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FEEDING THE MILL - Officials at the Minto mine are exploring cost saving measures that could extend open pit and underground mining beyond October and into next year.

Mining activity continuing longer than planned

Mining and stockpiling ore at the Minto Mine are going longer than expected, and may go even longer, says general manager Ron Light.

By Chuck Tobin on August 19, 2016

Mining and stockpiling ore at the Minto Mine are going longer than expected, and may go even longer, says general manager Ron Light.

Light explained Thursday while they originally expected to be finished mining the Minto North open pit and stock piling the copper ore this month – ending employment for a good portion of the Pelly Construction Ltd. crew – the work will be continuing to the beginning of October.

They have found a little more paydirt in the Minto North pit, but the work is taking a little longer, mostly because operating conditions are tight, with one section of the pit open to one-lane traffic only, he pointed out.

Light said there is also a move afoot that could stretch out employment even longer for Pelly’s heavy equipment operators and support staff.

There is another open pit target which could be financially feasible to strip and mine if enough cost-saving measures can be found, the general manager explained.

While he’s trying to find ways to make it feasible to move on to Stage 2 Area 3 Open Pit, he said, ultimately, it will be up to Capstone Mining’s senior management to decide.

“So if we finish mining the (Minto North) pit in October and we do not have approval to do the next pit, if we do not have some cost-saving measures, we would lay off probably 50 per cent of the Pelly crew,” he said. “It will depend on what work we have.

“Our hope continues to be we will find a way to mine that Area 2, Stage 3 pit.”

Light said if they move onto Area 2, Stage 3, the full Pelly Construction crew could continue working through the winter and into next spring, with the possibility of a temporary slowdown this fall while they wait for freeze up.

Underground mining is also continuing to prove fruitful, he said, adding it was originally scheduled to end this past March or April.

He said there is approximately a month and a half of underground mining left at the current location, but, as with the open pit mining, there is another underground target, though moving on to it would also require senior management approval.

Under the schedule laid out by Capstone earlier this year, the mill was to continue operating until next April, using ore that has been stockpiled.

The Minto Mine was then supposed to move into a temporary closure and care and maintenance mode. If they can a find a way to extend both the open pit and underground mining, Light said, they could extend milling operations into the final three months of 2017.

There are also five years of known reserves that are profitable under the right market conditions, he said.

But Light said it’s not possible at this point in time to look five years down the road. Rather, he’s taking it three months at a time, looking to keep the mine viable and people employed.

“That’s my objective.”

There are currently 289 workers employed by the Minto Mine, including contract workers, according to figures provided by the general manager.

Just over half of all employees are Yukoners, and a quarter are of First Nations ancestry.

The Minto Mine employs 155 people directly, while 70 are employed by Pelly Construction, 28 are employed by Dumas, the underground contractor, and 26 work for Sodexo, the catering and housekeeping contractor.

Meanwhile, the second-quarter financial report released recently for the Minto Mine shows the mine lost $23.5 million in the first six months of this year.

Cindy Burnett, Capstone’s vice-president of investor relations, said this week the losses are attributable to mining and milling lower grade ore at 1.5 per cent copper.

The prize, on the other hand, was moving into the Minto North open pit with its higher grade of two to 2.5 per cent copper, she said.

Burnett said the increase in grade doesn’t seem like a lot, but it makes a huge difference.

“We are in the sweet ground now,” she said.

Burnett said it would not have made sense operationally to shut down the mine while waiting for the availability of the higher grade ore from the Minto North pit this past June.

Furthermore, the lower grade ore had to be milled at some point in any case, she explained.

The Minto Mine generated $684,000 in mineral royalties through the first six months of the year. Under the royalty arrangement, the royalties are paid to the Selkirk First Nation.

By Chuck Tobin Star Reporter

Comments (1)

Up 34 Down 4

art biddulph on Aug 19, 2016 at 5:59 pm

It is good to see operating mines in Yukon

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