Snow Lake’s new gold mill is officially on line for Hudbay.
The company held a grand opening ceremony for the New Britannia gold mill Oct. 19, with Hudbay brass including president and CEO Peter Kukielski and Manitoba Business Unit vice-president Rob Assabgui, provincial political figures and cabinet ministers on site to open the mill.
Opening the New Britannia (often shortened to New Brit) facility, located due north of Snow Lake, pushes most of Hudbay’s millwork and processing to the Snow Lake area and will emphasize the company’s plans to transition the Lalor mine to increasing gold production.
“The opening ceremony of New Britannia is a major milestone for Hudbay and brings a whole new picture of employment and opportunities for the town of Snow Lake and the region,“ reads a statement from Hudbay about the opening.
Gold production started at the New Brit mill back in August, pouring the first gold bar at the site August 11.
“The New Britannia mill features advanced technology, including a fully designed flotation unit that is the first of its kind – consisting of four Jameson cells – which will result in substantially improved rates of copper and gold recovery,” according to Hudbay.
In the past, New Britannia was the site of one of Snow Lake’s most important mine sites and a mill built in 1946. Gold was first found in the area more than a century ago. The Nor-Acme mine was opened back in 1949, operating for about a decade and recovering over 600,000 ounces of gold. The mine was reopened by TVX and High River in the mid-1990s before being purchased by mining company Kinross, which operated the site until 2004, around 1.6 million ounces of gold later.
Hudbay bought the mill site for $12.3 million USD back in 2015 when the site was on care and maintenance. Site refurbishment of the mill started in 2019, with more than 60,000 tonnes of soil removed from the site and more than 3,000 tonnes of scrap metal processed before construction started at the site.
“Hudbay anticipates annual gold production from the Lalor and Snow Lake operations will increase to over 180,000 ounces during the first six full years of operation,” said a Hudbay spokesperson.
“Hudbay expects 17 years of operation at New Britannia.”
In the past, the company has referred to the New Brit site as “the optimal processing solution for Lalor gold” in site materials.
Hudbay plans to connect the New Brit mill with the Stall mill, located not far from Highway 392, with an approximately four kilometre long pipeline north of the road from the Snow Lake area. That pipeline will send tailings from New Brit to Stall, while copper concentrate and reclaim water will be sent back to New Brit.
