Hudson Bay mining Chisel Lake crown

Owner and operator Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting (TSE) reached planned production rates in February. The company has spent $18 million over the past 18 months preparing the deposit for open pit mining. The first ore came out of the pit in early January.

Some four million cubic yards of clay overburden and waste cap rock have been stripped from the deposit, exposing ore reserves totalling 1.3 million tons grading 10% zinc, 0.23% copper, 1.4% lead and 0.074 oz gold and 1.60 oz silver per ton, according to Chief Mine Geologist Frank Bill.

Stripping was completed last fall ahead of schedule, but it took longer than expected to strip the waste rock covering the ore.

Over-all, the project was completed about two months ahead of schedule. The mill at Snow Lake, is running at a rate of about 3,550 tons per day, close to full capacity. About 1,150 tons, or about one third of the daily ore feed, comes from the open pit.

A production target of 32,000 tons per month has been set for the crown pillar, giving a mine life of about 3 1/2 years.

Ore feed to the Snow Lake mill now comes from four sources: the Chisel Lake open pit, Stall Lake, Rod mine and the Spruce Point mine. The Anderson Lake mine closed in June, 1988 and the Ghost Lake mine closed in November, 1988. The underground portion of the Chisel Lake mine is winding down and will be on standby while the crown pillar is being mined.

Concentrates are shipped by rail to HudBay’s smelter complex in Flin Flon, Man.

Future production in the Snow Lake area may very well come from a new zone discovered last year down plunge of existing Chisel Lake mineralization, about 3 km north of the crown pillar. No work is being done there now, although more drilling is needed to place the mineralization in the proven category.

The deposit occurs at a depth of about 2,500 ft and would likely require a shaft for access.

Probable reserves stand at 2.7 million tons grading 9% zinc, 0.2-0.3% copper, diluted by 15%.

Hudson Bay has budgeted about $4 million for exploration work in Manitoba this year. Exploration drilling is also planned at the Rod, Stall Lake, and Spruce Point mines in 1989.

]]>