Name of the Project
Macmillan Pass project.

Location
Yukon, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Fireweed Zinc.

Project Description
The preliminary economic assessment is based on a mine plan for the delivery of 32.66-million at a diluted head grade of 9.07% zinc equivalent (5.31% zinc, 3.56% lead and 43.41 g/t silver) delivered to the processing plant. 

Initial material will be recovered at 5 000 t/d using conventional truck-and-shovel surface mining from the Tom and Jason deposits. During the third year, production will transition to underground mining using Avoca-style sublevel retreat longhole stoping, vertical crater retreat and alimak stoping. Stopes will be filled with a combination of waste rock and paste and cemented rock fill.

Openpit mining will account for 13%, or 4.2-million tonnes, of the 32.7-million tonnes of material mined and processed. Vertical crater retreat and longhole methods account for 75% of the material mined and processed by underground methods. Mining recovery and dilution factors have been executed according to the mining method. Average openpit mining recovery and dilution are 95% and 10% respectively. Average underground mining recovery and dilution are 92% and 21% respectively.

The project incorporates a standard comminution, flotation-separation flowsheet, and includes a primary crusher feeding a semiautogenous mill, a ball mill and selective two and three-stage flotation to produce two concentrate products for shipment to offsite smelters.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

All-in Sustaining Costs/All-in Costs
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
In the base case the project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$779-million and an internal rate of return of 32%, with a payback of about 3 years.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated at C$404-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Fireweed Zinc has hailed the agreement about road upgrades that the Yukon government and the Ross River Dena Council (RRDC) First Nation have reached as a “major step” towards the eventual development of the Macmillan Pass project.

The agreement centres on the North Canol road and Campbell highway components of the Yukon Resource Gateway Project.

The RRDC is collaborating with the government of Yukon on the development, and environmental and regulatory aspects of the two road-component upgrades. The work will include bridge replacement and safety improvements on North Canol road and construction and resurfacing a section of the Robert Campbell Highway.

The project has an estimated capital cost of about C$71-million.

Upgrading the North Canol road to carry heavy truck traffic was a major cost item in Fireweed’s 2018 preliminary economic assessment (PEA), comprising 25% of capital expenditure (capex) to build the project.

This is the third agreement to be reached as part of the Yukon Resource Gateway Project. The second agreement, reached in January 2020, was with the Liard First Nation to make improvements to the Nahanni Range road.

The government of Yukon and Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation reached an agreement for the proposed Carmacks Bypass component of the Yukon Resource Gateway Project in March 2019.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
JDS Energy and Mining (PEA) and Knight Piésold Consulting (tailings and water studies).

Contact Details for Project Information
Fireweed Zinc, tel +1 604 646 8360 or email info@Fireweedzinc.com.