Shania Twain Centre to finally be worth its weight in gold — as a pit mine

Sorry, Shania, you're not worth your weight in gold. Well, maybe you are, but the centre built in your name is not worth the gold mine beneath it.

The Shania Twain Centre in Timmins, ON, is closing its doors today, after a clearance sale that saw the last of the centre's merchandise sold at a 75 per cent discount.

Timmins City Council offered to sell the centre to the mining company Goldcorp in early January after finding that it would cost taxpayers $300,000 annually to keep the country singer's tribute running.

[ Related: Unlike its namesake, Shania Twain Centre rarely drew needed numbers ]

Shania's management company, Maple Leaf Productions, originally loaned the centre about $1 million of memorabilia including awards and clothing.

However, its struggling financial situation led Maple Leaf to remove most of the collection celebrating her early career and rise to fame. There simply weren't enough visitors to support the cost of keeping the lights on.

An analysis in 2011 by PKF Consulting found the centre cost $10 million to build, some of which came from federal government funding.

Shania didn't attend the grand opening in 2001 because she was pregnant, according to the website's timeline of events.

[ Related: Shania Twain centre literally becomes $10-million money pit of taxpayer dollars ]

Now Shania's tribute will solidify its status as a money pit when Goldcorp demolishes the centre to build an open pit mine.