SOQUEM selling Seleine salt mine

SOQUEM, the Quebec Crown corporation involved in mining and mineral exploration, is selling its rock salt mining business.

The salt mining operation, located on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence about 1,100 km east of Montreal, is the largest supplier of highway de-icing salt in northeastern North America. The mine is operated through soquem’s Seleine division and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Seleine Mines Inc.

Production begain in November, 1983, and reached its rated capacity of 1.25 million tonnes during fiscal 1986. The mine has minimum reserves of 40 million tonnes. Seleine employs 200 people, 182 of whom work at the mine site.

Any potential buyer must agree to continue the operations for at least 10 years, maintain current employment levels from residents of the Magdalen Islands and maintain Seleine’s principal place of business in the province of Quebec.

This will be soquem’s second privatization. In mid-1986 the government-owned company sold off its gold-mining assets to form a new, public company called Cambior Inc., now considered one of Canada’s major gold producers largely because of its 50% interest in the Doyon mine in northwestern Quebec. The Seleine rock salt mine is located on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.