TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Xstrata Nickel has indefinitely suspended mining operations at its Montcalm mine, in Timmins, Ontario, after a geotechnical review showed structural damage to the mine.

“Unplanned ground movements at Montcalm forced underground activity at the mine to be stopped at the end of March to ensure the safety of the work force and enable geotechnical investigations and monitoring to be carried out,” the company said on Tuesday.

The company will be unable to access the mine until a further investigation has been completed and a full assessment of options and risk management plans is completed, said mine manager Keith Bullock.

“We have, therefore, decided to cease operations indefinitely. We will continue to conduct further geotechnical monitoring at the mine to assess the full extent of the structural damage and the options that are available to us.”

Xstrata Nickel’s employees at Montcalm will continue to assist with ongoing assessments and environmental stewardship of the operation in the near term.

Montcalm was expected to produce about 9 000 t of nickel contained in concentrate this year, and the operation's mine life was scheduled to end in mid-2011.

The impact of these actions at Montcalm on production from Xstrata Nickel's Sudbury smelter are expected to be substantially offset as it continues to process concentrate from the company’s Raglan and Australasian operations, initial ore from Nickel Rim South and third-party feed sources.

In February, Xstrata Nickel said it would put its Fraser complex in Sudbury on care-and-maintenance, shelve a development project and cut 686 permanent jobs.

The firm had already announced early closures of the Craig and Thayer-Lindsley underground mines, which were nearing the end of their productive lives, as it battles weak nickel prices.

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