The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Ottawa is reviewing whether the planned Lalor concentrator warrants a federal environmental assessment. Until last week, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency accepted comments from the public on the project and its potential impact on the environment. Those comments will now assist the CEAA in determining whether to proceed with the assessment as part of the approval process for the concentrator. Hudbay proposes to construct and operate a new zinc and copper / lead ore concentrator at the Lalor mine site just outside Snow Lake. At a yet-to-be-identified date, the CEAA will post on its website a decision on whether a federal environmental assessment is needed. If an assessment is required, the public will have three more opportunities to comment on the project. If the concentrator project is permitted to proceed to the next phase, it will continue to be subject to tightening environmental laws. Hudbay hopes to have the $353-million concentrator built and operational in late 2015. This past February, the company announced changes to the original design to increase grinding capacity by 20 per cent to 5,400 tonnes per day to better match the potential production shaft capacity. Since April 1, early commercial production has been underway at the Lalor mine. The ore is being hoisted out of the mine's ventilation shaft, which is expected to reach its end point at the 955-metre level by the end of September. The main production shaft continues to progress with completion slated for late 2014. As of April 26 the shaft was about 72 per cent done, having reached the 710-metre level. Once the main shaft is complete, crews will install steel sets and guides as the transition from production out of the ventilation shaft begins. That transition is expected to wrap up by the end of 2014, allowing full-scale production at Lalor to commence _ subject to approval of required regulatory permits.
