The Dighem Syndicate discovered the Montcalm deposit in 1976, and it was further explored by Finland’s Outokumpu Mines from 1993 until 1997.
Falconbridge first became involved in the project in 1999. In 2001, it acquired a 100% stake in return for spending $14 million.
Falco has now spent more than $16 million on the project, in the process completing a feasibility study that outlined a sulphide reserve of 5.1 million tonnes grading 1.46% nickel, 0.7% copper, and minor cobalt credits. These reserves are sufficient for an 8.5-year mine life at an annual production rate of 750,000 tonnes, or 8,000 tonnes nickel.
The deposit would be accessible underground via a portal and ramp, with ore being trucked to Falco’s Kidd metallurgical plant, near Timmins, for milling and concentrating before being sent to the company’s Sudbury operations for smelting.
The copper-zinc-oriented Kidd facility will require modifications in order to treat nickel-bearing ore, a move that could conceivably lead to the development of other, similar nickel deposits in the Timmins area.
Falco believes commercial production levels can be achieved at Montcalm within 16 months of the start of development. The capital cost is pegged at $141.5 million, and the new mine would create about 145 direct jobs.
The project is now wending its way through Falco’s internal review process, though the company is also waiting for approval from Ontario’s Ministry of Environment. Among the permits awaited are those for water treatment and discharge.
The discharge of clean, treated water from the Montcalm mine site directly to the Groundhog River has been selected as the most environmentally sound approach to developing the mine. Some groups have raised concerns about the mine’s proximity to sturgeon spawning beds. However, the company says these concerns are “unwarranted” and that “there will be no adverse impact on biotic communities and fish populations or on water quality.”
Currently, Falco is looking at two water-discharge options:
— The first is a 15-km buried pipeline from the Montcalm mine to an existing 44-hectare Falconbridge claim that divides the proposed boundaries of the recommended Groundhog Provincial Waterway Park. This option does not require amendment to the proposed boundaries of the recommended park.
— The second option consists of an 8-km naturalized drainage way, the final 200 metres of which would lie within the proposed boundaries of the park.
With respect to the second option, Falco is proposing a land-rights exchange whereby it would relinquish 22 ha of land associated with the pipeline option to the Crown in return for temporary drainage-way access rights through 2 ha of the proposed park. Upon closure of the mine, the drainage-way access would return to the Crown.
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