A BREAKNECK PACE Namew Lake

Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting has adopted what President Lloyd Nilsen calls a “black-earth” exploration policy, which means all anomalies that turn up during airborne geophysical work will be tested by drilling. That policy was responsible for the nickel/copper find at Namew Lake in 1985, a nearly 3-million-ton orebody about 40 miles south of the company’s huge Flin Flon complex. For Hudson Bay, the Namew Lake deposit is quite different from all its other satellite mines that feed the Snow Lake concentrator and Flin Flon mill, smelter, and refinery. To begin with, it’s primarily a nickel deposit. In the past, the company has mined copper, zinc, gold, silver, and even tantalum, but hardly a pound of nickel has yet been extracted from the rich Manitoba ground that has been HudBay’s centre of operations.

Namew is also distinct in that the orebody lies beneath a cap of limestone dolomites and sandstone. Normally, the Flin Flon area mines don’t have that paleozoic cover of limestone and sandstone. Now, with advanced geophysical equipment that can “see through” this cover, deeper anomalies are being picked up in the Pre- Cambrian rock.

Namew is also different in that it will have its own on-site concentrator. The absence of a nickel circuit at the Flin Flon operation was the main reason for building the Namew concentrator, which is being designed and constructed by Kilborn Engineering together with the engineering arm of Outokumpu Oy, HudBay’s joint-venture partner.

Compared with Sudbury Basin nickel mines, this find is far richer in grade. The nickel content is about 2.44%. Both Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd. have grades of 1.4% to 1.5%.

Putting it all together, it seems that Hudson Bay, which mined its first commercial ore from the area in the late 1920s, has a long way to go yet. Namew Lake Notebook Location: ……. Namew Lake, Man. Major Owners: ……. Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting (60%) and Outokumpu Oy

(40)% Commodities: ……. nickel and copper, with minor amounts of platinum and

palladium Discovery date: ……. 1983 Production decision: ……. July, 1987 Start-up: ……. late 1988 Capital costs: ……. $70 million Operating costs: ……. not established Reserves: ……. 2.82 million tons

of 2.44% nickel and 1% copper Means of access: ……. 3-compartment shaft to 1,400 ft Extent of vertical workings: ……. 700-ft horizontal Mining method: ……. open-stoping, delayed fill Mining equipment: ……. track and trackless Production rate: ……. 2,100 tons per day Milling plans: ……. on-site Major contractors: ……. unavailable Status: ……. pre-production