The Langmuir No. 1 nickel mine near Timmins, Ont., has been put on temporary care and maintenance as a result of poor nickel prices and continuing losses, reports owner Timmins Nickel (TSE).
Langmuir No. 1, which reached commercial production in June, 1991, was the only mine to be developed in northern Ontario last year. With average cash costs of US$3.90 per lb. and a realized nickel price of US$3.95, the operation was able to keep its head above water during the first few months of production. Nickel has since dropped to below US$3.60 per lb. on the London Metal Exchange.
As a result of the closure, 10 people have been laid off and nickel production is expected to decrease by 150,000 lb. per month. The mine has almost two years of reserves left in the ground.
In a bid to find more reserves at Langmuir No. 1, underground drilling is progressing. So far, the company has encountered intervals of 5 ft. grading 1.5% nickel and 4 ft. grading 2% nickel about 200 ft. below the existing orebody, but two other holes hit a barren contact.
Further afield, Timmins Nickel has drilled eight holes into the surrounding Shaw Dome, but has not encountered any economic mineralization. The principal target of the $1-million regional program, an anomaly north of the Langmuir No. 2 deposit, has yet to be drilled.
Following the acquisition of the minority interest in the neighboring Redstone mine, Timmins Nickel says its total annual nickel production will increase slightly in 1992.
At the Dome Mountain gold project near Smithers, B.C., an 8-hole program has encountered three narrow (2-3.6-ft.) intersections of high-grade gold several hundred feet east of known reserves.
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