Cambior Cuts Doyon, Restarts Mouska

Cambior Inc. has made plans to reduce throughput at its Doyon mine near Val d’Or and restart production at Mouska at Cadillac, Que.

Reorganization of the Doyon mine was partly necessitated by poor ground conditions. A fall of ground caused extensive damage to the main ramp last May, disrupting mining and development for four months. Subsequently, the ore output rate has been lowered to 700,000 tonnes/year from the current 1.0 million tonnes. Cost of the reorganization is expected to be about $2.5 million. Of the 130 Doyon employees affected, about 50 will be offered new positions at other Cambior mines.

Average grade from the Doyon mine starting in 2005 is estimated at 5.5 g/t Au and gold production will be 120,000 oz per year. Some 800,000 tonnes at 3.3 g/t Au will be removed from reserves and transferred to resources.

Cambior says that shaft deepening at the Mouska mine was completed a month ahead of schedule and slightly lower than budgeted. With that project out of the way, the company has restarted mining. The Mouska mine will produce about 50,000 oz of gold per year.

Information on other Cambior projects is posted at www.cambior.com.