Minesite News (June 01, 2003)

Safest mines honoured nationally

MONTREAL, QUE.–With identical reportable injury rates of 0.0, three coal mines–Luscar’s Paintearth mine and Genesee mine in Alberta, and NB Coal in New Brunswick–shared the John T. Ryan national safety trophy for the year 2002 coal mine competition. Since 1995, these three mines have shared in the John T. Ryan safety coal trophy 12 times.

In the metal mine category, Cogema Resources Ltd.’s Cluff Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan won the John T. Ryan national safety trophy. This operation also won in the metal mine category in 1998. In the select mine category, Fundy Gypsum Co. earned top honours. This Nova Scotia mine is familiar with being in the winner’s circle. In recent years, it has captured national select mine honours in 1999 and 1991.

The year 2002 John T. Ryan safety trophies were presented at the 105th annual general meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, which was held in Montreal the first week of May.

The Ryan Trophy safety competition began in 1941 when the Mine Safety Appliances Co. of Canada–now MSA Canada Inc.–donated a trophy to encourage safe production of minerals as part of Canada’s wartime effort. Since then, the competition expanded to include a coal trophy in 1942 and a select mine trophy in 1970. These much-treasured trophies are symbols of the premier safety competition in one of Canada’s safest heavy industries. “No other industry in Canada has national safety awards like the Ryan,” says Peter McBride, secretary of the John T. Ryan National Safety Trophies Committee.

The current chairman of the Ryan Committee is Warren Holmes, president and COO for Nuinsco Resources Ltd. MSA Canada sponsors the competition.

Mining starts at McCreedy West

SUDBURY, ONT.–The Sudbury Joint Venture of FNX Mining Co. Inc. (Toronto) and Dynatec Corp. (Richmond Hill, Ont.) began Phase 1 mining at the McCreedy West mine in mid-May.

The Sudbury Joint Venture expects to produce more than 75,000 tons of ore during 2003. Phase 1 mining will initially produce 200 tons per day from the high-grade, copper-platinum-palladium-gold-rich 700 deposit and the nickel-rich Upper Main deposit. Mining will expand incrementally to include the nickel-rich Inter Main and East Main deposits over the next 12 months, when the daily production rate is expected to be 800 to 1,000 tons per day. The 2003 mining plan does not include any ore from the 950, PM or Boundary deposits.

Preproduction work at McCreedy West included underground rehabilitation, installation of mine services and construction of a 400-ft x 400-ft ore containment pad on surface. A primary and secondary crushing system was installed on the containment pad, together with a sampling tower for grade determination. Ore is brought to surface, crushed, sampled, weighed and trucked to Inco Ltd.’s Clarabelle mill for processing.

In February 2003, a resource estimate, audited by Roscoe Postle Associates, was announced for five of the seven known deposits at McCreedy West (700, Inter Main, Upper Main, East Main and 950) totaling 1,740,000 tons in the measured and indicated categories and 376,000 tons in the inferred category. These resources are sufficient to support the projected mining rate at McCreedy West of 1,000 tons per day for more than five years. Average grades for the footwall 700 deposit are estimated at 6.1% Cu, 0.18 oz/ton combined Pt-Pd-Au, while the average grade from the contact deposits is estimated at 2.1% Ni, 0.3% Cu with minor platinum, palladium and gold.

Exploration is continuing at the McCreedy West mine with six drill rigs, five underground and one on surface as part of the Sudbury Joint Venture’s $24.5-million exploration program in 2003. The PM, Boundary and 950 deposits are expected to be part of future Phase 2 mining plans.

The Sudbury Joint Venture is owned 75% by FNX (exploration operator) and 25% by Dynatec (mining operator). The Sudbury Joint Venture properties (McCreedy West, Levack, Victoria, Norman and Kirkwood) are all former producers in the Sudbury district of northeastern Ontario.