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.
Lalor presentation well worth the wait HudBay Minerals holding a public meeting to update Snow Lake on their plans for a new mine? Many residents would say that this is something the company has never done. However, on the evening of April 13, this is precisely what played out in Snow Lake's Lawrie Marsh Hall. The gathering was well attended, very informative, and appeared to be genuinely appreciated. To be fair and accurate, it was probably the most in-depth and well-prepared presentation of this kind that Snow Lakers have ever witnessed. HudBay Chief Operating Officer Tom Goodman opened the presentation with some great news on the community's fiscal front Ð $2 million toward the new wastewater treatment plant and a 30 per cent increase in their payment in lieu of taxes. Things only got better from there. Goodman handed things over to the company's Lalor project manager, Kim Proctor, who reacquainted herself with Snow Lakers and introduced everyone to the project that will guide both HudBay and Snow Lake into a new era of growth, development, and sustainability. No stranger to many in the audience, Proctor handled the presentation with ease. Employed with HudBay for the past 24 years, she had worked at eight of their mines, when in 2007 she was asked to take a prominent role in the Lalor Project. This past January, she was appointed project manager for Lalor. Proctor, a professional geoscientist who holds a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from Brandon University, that in her estimation, Lalor is the largest pre-development deposit the company has ever put into production. She noted that as a fast-track project, it is quite unique to HudBay. Proctor said the company normally begins a project with a scoping study that looks at revenue and expenses. They would then go to the pre-feasibility stage, where design, engineering, and more in-depth cost estimates would be considered. From there a full-fledged feasibility study would be undertaken. It would look at detailed engineering, planning, and capital commitments. Exciting results However, construction of Lalor was scoped while drilling was in progress. Proctor said the drill results excited people so much that the pre-feasibility study and construction were jointly undertaken. "Engineering, procurement, and construction are going ahead simultaneously," said Proctor. "Everything is progressing; it isn't a concept anymore, it's a mine site." Following this, Proctor gave an overview of the prolificacy of the Chisel Basin, the Lalor discovery, and the further drilling that has defined this enormous deposit. As well, she explained the thought pattern that brought Lalor from discovery hole to what will no doubt become a flagship mine. In this overview, Proctor said the top of Lalor's ore body is situated 570m below surface and the bottom intersection is at the 1,500m level; however, it is still open at depth. Thus far, Lalor has six base-metal-bearing horizons, with two main horizons among them. There are five gold-bearing horizons, with two main zones and an immense copper-gold zone. Exploration continues with 30 million tonnes outlined thus far. Proctor noted that one of the most recent drill holes completed on the property, DUB 189, caught a zone that didn't line up with the property's other lenses. "This is why it is so exciting," she said, "because we believe that Lalor is only going to grow once we get underground, closer to these targets, and are able to do more diamond drilling." See '2011...' on pg. 14 Continued from pg. 13 The geologist then moved on to sketch the timeline in respect to construction at the nearby site. She said the property's budget for 2011 is $163 million, which covers a lot of the major service infrastructure required for the project. Power was attained at the site in March, and water will be there the third week in May. Additionally, Proctor spoke about the deposit's three separate access points. The first of these will be the ramp from Chisel North, which she estimated was 61 per cent complete, and on track. The second is the ventilation shaft Ð a vertical opening from the 835m level to surface. It was started in December 2010 and with the collar and pre-sink complete, they are down to the 30.3m level. Official sinking will start late next month and they hope to connect the ramp and the vent shaft by the end of 2011. The third point of access is the main shaft, or production shaft. It will be identical to the one at Flin Flon's 777 mine. As Proctor noted, "It works well, why change a good thing?" Awarding of the production shaft contract is just now being finalized. Late october "Official sinking will begin in late October or early November 2011," Proctor opined. HudBay hopes to connect the ramp with the vent shaft in 2012, and there is also an opportunity to drive a heading into the first base-metal ore body at that point and bring up some of Lalor's rich ore. They will hoist this via a temporary head frame over the vent shaft. However, once the production shaft is commissioned, they will take the head frame away and it will revert to a vent shaft. Further down the road, in 2013 they plan to join the main level up with production shaft. In 2014-15, the production shaft will be commissioned in addition to more lateral development and internal ramps to access the various ore lenses. In relation to the concentrator, Proctor said there is still no decision on the trade-off study being undertaken in regard to using the current Snow Lake mill or building a new one. The project team will take their recommendations to the board of directors sometime this summer. Nevertheless, Proctor talked about the benefit of having a concentrator on site and being able to bring ore from underground, send it by conveyor to the crusher, then into the concentrator Ð they wouldn't have to truck ore, only concentrate. With respect to the metallurgy of the ore Ð the deposit started as a zinc ore body, before gold and then copper were found Ð "it got to the point where the engineers said, 'God, stop drillingÉ you are just complicating things,'" Proctor laughed. 'Encouraging' However, she says that metallurgy is encouraging to date with good recoveries, similar to Chisel North's. They are able to combine ore from all of the deposit's lenses and still get good recoveries. "That is a huge accomplishment, to get that level of satisfaction," Proctor said. Prior to the end of the presentation, Proctor said she wanted to recognize the group of people who work with her on the project. "Because of the fast-track process, the question every day is, 'How do we do things better, faster, cheaper?'" she said with admiration and praise for the hard work and innovation of her team. "They are inventive, they have good experience, and they put fires out on a day by day basis." Proctor reiterated the size of the project in relation to others in HudBay's past and present portfolio, and cryptically predicted it would have at least a 20-year mine life. "By my count, this will be the 30th mine that HudBay has put into production," she said. "And by doing so, for sure we will be celebrating 100 years of mining in Manitoba." With the presentation concluded, Proctor fielded a number of questions on subjects and issues such as tailings, roads, traplines, financing, training, and apprenticeships. She also advised that the company would hold regular Snow Lake updates on the project. All questions were thoroughly answered and no one left this exceptional presentation wanting for information. My Take on Snow Lake runs Fridays.
