New Cambior mine honors former Sullivan chairman

The Beliveau mine will produce a projected 35,000 oz gold annually from 390,00 0 tons of ore. Current reserves of 1.3 million tons (1.14 million tons of which are in the proven category), grading 0.1 oz gold per ton, give the mine a 4-year lifespan. Its $15.5-million pre- production development cost was financed mainl y through forward gold sales and a gold loan. The estimated operating cost is $2 60(C) per oz.

What is unusual about the mine is the formation of its deposit, a vertical dyke 1,000 ft long and 30 ft wide which has been explored to a depth of 1,000 ft.

“It’s like one big stope,” Rejean Gourde, director of Cambior’s Val d’Or division, explained. “It’s because of that, and that the rock is very s table, we can mine at a low cost.”

Gourde said 95% of the gold is contained in 5% of the dyke material. The veins cannot be mined, he said, because they are too narrow.

The main shaft, sunk to 1,200 ft, supports five levels. An access ramp extends to the second level. The shaft was built with three compartments, each 6×6 ft in size. A fourth compartment was added starting at the 4t h level. “If we decide to sink the shaft further, it won’t interrupt production,” Gourde said.

Exploration drilling has taken place only above the 5th level, but mine director Denis Miville-Deschenes said the deposit is open at depth.

Production ore during the first two years will come from the first three levels, including the crown pillar. Ore will be passed downward to just below the 5th level for treatment by a rock breaker and grizzly.

From there, the rock, no larger than 12 inches in diameter, will be transporte d to a new 1,100-ton-per- day mill where a gold concentrate will be produced. A SAG (semi- autogenous grinding) mill and flotation cells will be used to treat t he ore. The gold-pyrite concentrate will be taken to Cambior’s Vezina mill in Ro uyn-Noranda for final gold extraction.

“It’s really only half a mill because after the flotation we’ll be shipping the concentrate,” Gourde said of the new facility which was started up at the end of August, three weeks prior to the official opening.

Also to be treated at the mill, beginning in November, will be ore from the Chimo mine, in which Cambior has a 50% interest. (Both Cambior’s portio n and that of Chimo partner Societe Miniere Louvem will be shipped to the Beliveau mill.) T o accommodate the ore, the mill capacity is being expanded by 60%, to 1,760 tons per day. A separate ore bin and ball mill will be installed for the Chimo ore. The Beliveau mine will employ 60 workers. First recorded staking of

the Pascalis property occurred in 1930. However, dis covery of the deposit did not take place until 1983, through an exploration program initiated by SOQUEM under a joint venture agreement with projec t partner New Pascalis Mines.

(Cambior was spun off from SOQUEM, the Crown mining exploration corporation, in 1986, and among the property assets falling to Cambior was the Pascalis prope rty. SOQUEM remains Cambior’s major shareholder.)

Cambior’s underground work included the sinking of a shaft to 980 ft (since extended) and 1,755 ft of drifting. A production decision was made in October, 198 8. New Pascalis has retained a 20% net profits interest in the property.

Beliveau, whose mining career spans 45 years, is a life member of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He is a past president of the Quebec Metal Mining Association and a former director of the Mining Association of Canada. Among his various awards is the Inco Medal he received in 1986.

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