BRITISH COLUMBIA FORTUNE MINERALS has given the go-ahead for a full feasibility study of its 100%-owned Mount Klappan anthracite coal project in the northwestern portion of the province. The study will be done by MARSTON CANADA, which recently completed a positive marketing study for the project.
Mount Klappan contains four deposits of high-quality, low-sulphur anthracite rank, 330 km northeast of the port of Prince Rupert. Measured and indicated resources total 230.9 million tonnes. There are also inferred resources of 359.5 million tonnes and 2.213 billion tonnes considered speculative. Most of the resources are contained in the Lost-Fox deposit.
The updated full feasibility study will assess a conventional truck-and-shovel open pit operation and wash plant with heavy media separation. Employees would work on a rotational basis and be housed at a camp constructed at the site. Previous studies assessed a mining rate of 2.6 million tonnes of run-of-mine anthracite per year to produce 1.75 million tonnes of clean coal at 67% recovery. The Marston study will determine reserves and optimize production levels, recoveries and strip ratios to reflect current market conditions. The flow sheet will also be optimized for production of a bulk pulverized coal injection (PCI) product with 10% ash for the steel industry, and a lesser quantity of value-added, specialty coarse and sized products. The study is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
The history of exploration and test mining at Mount Klappan in the 1980s is told in pictures at www.FortuneMinerals.com. Click on Photo Gallery.
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