https://www.miningweekly.com

Lalor mine, Canada

5th June 2015

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

Name: Lalor mine.

Location: The Lalor mine is located in the Chisel basin of the Flin Flon greenstone belt in Manitoba, Canada.

Controlling Company: Hudbay Minerals.

Brief History: Hudbay’s exploration team discovered the Lalor deposit in 2007 using an innovative adaptation of electromagnetic geophysical surveys to penetrate deep below the Flin Flon greenstone belt. Subsequent exploration identified separate and distinct gold and copper/gold zones, in addition to the previously defined zinc zone. On the basis of these discoveries, Hudbay fast-tracked development of the Lalor resource.

In 2009, construction began on a 3 km ramp from Hudbay’s Chisel North mine to the Lalor deposit to enable early access to the zinc zone and establish an underground drilling platform. The following year, Hudbay committed to advancing Lalor to full production. By mid-2012, the company had completed the ventilation shaft, enabling it to start mining and generate cash flow just five years after the initial Lalor discovery. The timing coincided with the closure of the Chisel North mine, thereby providing a source of zinc feed for the concentrator and zinc plant, as well as the necessary personnel. Production from the main shaft began in the second half of 2014. Hudson also commissioned the refurbished Snow Lake concentrator, which now has the capacity to treat 2 700 t/d.
Brief Description: The Lalor mine is an underground mine with a 15-year mine life. The mine has a daily throughput of 3 300 t/d and produces zinc, copper, gold and silver.

Geology/Mineralisation: The geological interpretation of the Lalor deposit is a series of 12 stacked zones of base metal zinc-rich and separate gold-rich mineralisation. The base metals and gold zones are typical of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits that precipitated at or near the seafloor in association with contemporaneous volcanism. The depositional environment of this mineralisation is similar to currently and previously producing deposits in the Snow Lake camp, with the exception of a more extensive associated hydrothermal alteration pipe and feeder zone than previous discoveries.

Products: Gold, zinc, copper and silver.

Reserves: Total proven reserves with regard to Lalor base metals as at January 1, 2015, were 3.4-million tonnes grading 0.52% of copper, 8% of zinc, 1.27 g/t of gold and 17.93 g/t of silver. Probable reserves were estimated at 8.45-million tonnes grading 0.71% of copper, 6.72% zinc, 2.12 g/t of gold and 26.62 g/t of silver.

Total proven resources with regard to Lalor gold as at January 1, 2015, were 131 000 t grading 0.14% of copper, 0.5% zinc, 3.56 g/t of gold and 14.17 g/t of silver. Probable reserves were estimated 2.33-million tonnes grading 0.35% copper, 0.35% zinc, 5.46 g/t of gold and 29.11 g/t of silver.

Resources: Total inferred resources with regard to Lalor base metals as at September 30, 2014, were 1.56% of copper, 5.21% of zinc, 2.75 g/t of gold and 25.32 g/t of silver.

Total inferred resources with regard to Lalor base metals as at September 30, 2014, were 3.89-million tonnes grading 0.38% of copper, 0.24% of zinc, 5.5 g/t of gold and 31.4 g/t of silver.
Mining Method: Underground.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Lalor is designed to mine and mill 4 500 t/d of ore. Primary access to the mine is by a concrete-lined 6.9-m-diameter production shaft.

Ore is hoisted to surface and milled on site using a semiauto- genous/ball mill, producing zinc and bulk copper/lead concentrates. Where possible, existing infrastructure from Hudbay Chisel North mine operation is used or extended to Lalor.

Prospects: Hudbay closed a transaction to acquire a 100% interest in the New Britannia mine and mill, located in Snow Lake, Manitoba, in May 2015.

While there are currently no plans to bring the New Britannia mine back into production, based on Hudbay’s initial review, it believes the New Britannia mill (NBM), if refurbished, has the potential to process an estimated 2 000 t/d of gold zone ore from the Lalor mine.

As a result of the acquisition of the NBM, Hudbay no longer expects to build a new concentrator at Lalor. Hudbay contends that the expected $350-million to $400-million capital cost of a new concentrator will not be economically justified, given the potential for 4 700 t/d of combined capacity at the Snow Lake and NBM mills. However, the company expects that a paste backfill plant for Lalor will be required in addition to the costs of refurbishing the NBM. Hudbay continues to process ore from Lalor at the Snow Lake concentrator, while it is conducting engineering work on a potential restart of the NBM. The results of the technical study on the NBM, including the estimated costs and timing of a potential restart, will be available in 2016.

Contact Person: Director of corporate relations Scott Brubacher.

Contact Details:
Hudbay Minerals,
tel +1 416 362 8181,
fax +1 416 362 7844,
email info@hudbayminerals.com, and
website http://www.hudbayminerals.com.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION