Chibougamau, Chapais to receive assistance

The Quebec government is casting a $13-million vote of confidence for the Chibougamau-Chapais region. In the short term $2.8 million is being provided to aid three major copper mining companies in the area. And in the long term, about $10.5 million is to be made available to Soquem, a Quebec Crown corporation which is to concentrate its exploration activities in Chibougamau-Chapais.

The short-term aid is intended to help the three companies increase reserves at their mines in the region, Quebec Mines Minister Raymond Savoie told The Northern Miner.

“There is a great deal of geological data indicating that, at some level below the operating stopes, there are other important gold- copper deposits,” Mr Savoie said. The extra money should enable the companies to get at those deposits, assuring continued operations for several more years.

Without the aid, he said, two of the producers — Camchib Mines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Campbell Resources, and Corp. Falconbridge Copper, a newly acquired unit of Kerr Addison Mines — would be forced to close within a year and a half. “The Chibougamau-Chapais mining camp is in a difficult and fragile position,” Savoie warned, alluding to the fact that low copper prices (which were around 60 cents at presstime) have contributed to low profit margins for producers of the red metal. Gold deposit

Under the plan, Camchib Mines will spend $3 million on an underground exploration program over the next two years with $1.2 million to be spent by April 1, 1987. The company will explore a predominantly gold deposit at the 2,500-ft level, Charles Krause, vice- president of exploration, said. The deposit is in the hangingwall of the shear zone, which has housed most of the production from Camchib’s Henderson division. The province will provide half the cost of the program.

Northgate Patino Mines, a unit of Northgate Exploration, will spend $1.8 million on underground exploration at the Portage and Copper Rand mines. The program is scheduled to last from now until April 1, 1987, and, again, the province will provide half the money. Both Camchib and Northgate Patino are in Chibougamau.

Thirty miles east, in Chapais, Falconbridge Copper (Opemiska division) is to spend $800,000 on exploration work by April 1, 1987. Quebec will pick up half of that cost as well. 1,500 jobs

Besides paying for half the cost of the short-term development work, the Quebec government is trying to set up mineral diversification in the area. “Chibougamau- Chapais has essentially been a copper-producing area with some gold deposits,” Mr Savoie said. “We’re afraid that, if the area doesn’t diversify, it will come into bad times within the next two years — especially if the copper industry fails to improve.” He estimates that the area represents about 1,500 mining jobs.

To encourage diversification the province is increasing technical assistance to the entire area — not just the mines. Part of that assistance involves about 10 miles of road construction to provide easier access to the mining camp. “The plan is to uncover more information as to the geological make-up of Chibougamau-Chapais,” Mr Savoie said, “which should indicate which specific areas merit further exploration.”

He said Soquem (Societe Quebecoise Exploration Miniere) has submitted a 5-year plan for spending $10.5 million in the region, which should receive approval by early November.