eath Steele mine in N ew Brunswick prepares to re-open

It’s not official yet — approval from Brunswick’s board of directors depends on environmental approvals from the New Brunswick government — but production of lead, zinc and copper concentrates from the Heath Steele project, 65 km southwest of here, is expected to get the go-ahead before the end of February.

The operation, which last produced in 1983 under operators American Metals and Asarco Inc., is now a joint venture between Noranda Inc. (TSE) and Brunswick (which is 63%-held by Noranda). Cominco Ltd. (TSE) retains a 25% net profits interest in 80% of the Stratmat deposit, one of three deposits to be mined.

On a recent visit to the property, The Northern Miner learned that applications are being accepted for up to 150 new jobs expected for a planned 2,200-tonne-per-day operation. At that rate, there remains plenty of custom milling capacity in the mill for other potentially mineable deposits in the area, according to Brian Arsenault, metallurgical engineer.

Also, a number of items which require long delivery times (new wire rope for the skips and conveyances in No 5 shaft and a new Fisher computer control system for the mill, for example) have already been ordered, according to Brunswick.

The last time the mine/mill complex employed miners full time was in April, 1983. Noranda bought out American Metals’ interest and Brunswick picked up Asarco’s interest.

Since then, the mine has drained about $2.5 million a year from the company’s coffers, says Donald Archibald, project manager. Buildings were maintained and a security watch kept, the underground B mine was kept pumped out and acidic run-off from the tailings area and mine waste dumps was treated on site before being discharged into the watershed of the Miramichi River, a famous Atlantic salmon habitat.

By spending about $21 million to get the mine and mill running again Brunswick and Noranda could succeed in turning Heath Steele into a cash-generator, according to the latest internal feasibility study produced by the company. (The study was based on very conservative metals prices, Archibald says.) Just in time

A decision to bring Heath Steele back into production would come at an opportune time for Brunswick. The company expects to loose about three weeks of production this year from its big No 12 mine when it shuts down the main No 3 shaft there during the month of July. Crews there will be re-roping the skips and conveyances in No 3 to accommodate the greater depth resulting from a recent shaft- deepening project. A major bulkhead will have to be removed and the steel work in the shaft extension will have to be tied in with that in the old, upper part of the shaft, says David Chick, plant superintendent. The mine will operate at about 5,000-6,000 tonnes per day through the No 2 shaft during July.

The Heath Steele feasibility study considers only three deposits, containing a total of four million tonnes of ore, all within 6 km of the mill. But the exploration potential in the immediate area is excellent, reports project geologist Art Hamilton. Brunswick and Noranda alone have a mineral inventory of 8.4 million tonnes in the area, which are not included in the mine plan.

So although the feasibility study calls for five years, the mill could be running much longer.

“It’s hard enough getting old mines going again,” Archibald says. “But once these things get going, it’s even harder to get them stopped. I think we could be mining here for another 15 years.”

Stratabound Minerals (ASE) is one junior company which has recently been drilling a deposit in the area. That deposit, the Captain North Extension (sometimes known as the CNE deposit), has not been drilled in sufficient detail to allow a reserve calculation, but results so far have been encouraging. The company has three million shares outstanding, trading at about $1.00.

Acadia Mineral Ventures (TSE) has recently started staking base metals targets in the area as well. That company has accumulated 700 new claims at last count. That issue has been trading at about 76 cents . Stratmat: Key

The high grade, coarse-grained Stratmat deposit was the key to a positive recommendation in the Heath Steele report, according to Arie Moerman, project engineer and co-author of the report. The other two deposits, the C Zone and B Zone, host typical Bathurst area Kuroto-type, fine-grained mineralization from which metal recoveries are typically low (65.9% for lead, 82.3% for zinc, 61.6% for copper and 59.6% for silver at the No 12 mine).

“Over-all, our recoveries should be better than the historic performance of the Heath Steele mill,” Arsenault says.

Cominco optioned the Stratmat property to Noranda in January, 1986. Since then, Brunswick has proved up 293,000 tonnes of ore grading 13.46% combined lead/ zinc, 0.33% copper and 56.84 g silver per tonne to a depth of about 50 m.

That program was financed by Brunswick, which has now earned a 50% interest in the Stratmat property. By spending $5 million Brunswick can earn a further 25% interest in the Heath Steele mining lease, which surrounds the Statmat property, bringing its total interest there to 50%. The upper portion o f the Stratmat deposit could be mined by open pit methods.

Below that is an additional 443,000 tonnes of lower grade ore (10.14% combined lead zinc, 0.27% copper and 44.57 g silver per tonne) which can be mined by underground methods. A 6,000-ft decline has been driven by Aurora Quarrying and a 10,000-tonne test stope was mined using long-hole methods.

Concentrates produced from this deposit will be split 50/50 by Brunswick and Noranda. But Cominco retains a 25% net profit interest in 80% of the deposit. The other 20% is on Heath Steele ground where production could potentially be split 50/50 should Brunswick exercise its option, as expected.

The other deposits considered in the feasibility study include the C Zone, which will be mined by open pit (545,000 tonnes at 6.34% combined lead/zinc) and underground methods (433,000 tonnes at 8.19% combined), and the B Zone (2.3 million tonnes grading 8.65% combined lead/zinc) which is developed underground by the No 5 shaft.

“We think we could have the mill running at a rate of about 2,200 tonnes per day by September, if we were to get the green light this week” Archibald says.

If the mine start-up goes smoothly, the project could produce a total of 22,000 dry tonnes of zinc concentrate, 7,000 tonnes of lead concentrate, 4,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and 2,400 tonnes of bulk concentrate this year, says mine engineer Moerman. Concentrate grades were not available at press-time.

Brunswick has about 35 million shares outstanding, trading this week at $13.63. About five million are held by minority shareholders. The balance, 84%, is held by Noranda and Irving interests.

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