A BREAKNECK PACE Winston Lake

Ontario’s first zinc mine since the Kidd Creek operation came into production in the 1960s should be in full production by the end of the first quarter. Minnova decided late in 1986, shortly after the company was taken over by Kerr Addison Mines, to build a relatively small mine on the property, which hosts reserves good for 10 years of production at a rate of 1,000 tonnes per day. Mine Manager Thomas Dickson says the mine will be brought in on schedule but slightly over the original budget.

Located north of Schreiber, Ont., 125 miles from the former-producing Sturgeon Lake mine, the Winston Lake mine can keep capital costs down to about $73 million by re-using old mill equipment from the Sturgeon Lake mine. About $4 million had to be spent upgrading power lines and the mine access road.

Relatively expensive cut-and-fill mining from sublevels spaced 20 m apart vertically will be used on the bulk of the deposit. Hydraulic rock- breakers are being used underground in place of a more conventional jaw crusher. About 330 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 27 tonnes of copper concentrates will be trucked to Schreiber, where it will be loaded onto trains for shipment to Noranda’s Horne smelter in Noranda, Que., and the Canadian Electrolytic Zinc Refinery in Valleyfield, Que. Noranda holds a 49.5% interest in Kerr Addison, which in turn holds a 49.3% interest in Minnova. That interest was previously held by Falconbridge Ltd. Winston Lake Notebook Location: ……. 12 1/2 miles northwest of Schreiber, Ont. Major owners: ……. Minnova Inc. and Zenmac Zinc (a court case is underway to determine ownership percentages) Commodities: ……. zinc, copper, gold and silver Production decision: ……. July, 1986 Start-up: ……. first quarter of 1988 Capital costs: ……. $73 million Reserves: ……. 3.4 million tons at 16% zinc, 1% copper, 0.96 oz silver and 0.03 oz gold per ton Mining method: ……. sublevel cut-and-fill and some long-hole Production rate: ……. 330 tons of zinc and 30 tons of copper concentrates per day Major contractors: ……. Leslie Engineering (mill design), J.S. Redpath Ltd. (mine development), Lakefield Research (metallurgy), Geocon (tailings) and Golder and Associ ates (rock mechanics) Status ……. preproduction