Reserve boost at Langlois

Definition drilling by Cambior (CBJ-T) at its Langlois zinc-copper mine, near Lebel-sur-Quevillon in northwestern Quebec, has boosted both the tonnage and grade of reserves contained in zone 97.

Proven and probable reserves there now stand at 590,000 tonnes grading 12.2% zinc and 0.7% copper, compared with 526,000 tonnes of 11.8% zinc and 0.7% copper at the end of 1998.

Zone 97 is a massive sulphide lens composed mainly of sphalerite, pyrite and chalcopyrite with associated galena. It measures 600 metres vertically, 450 metres horizontally, 4.2 metres in thickness and plunges 55 to the east.

Cambior began the drill program a year ago by developing a 1-km drift from the established mine workings at Langlois into the higher-grade but underexplored zone 97.

Working from the drift and using 40-metre spacings, some 20% of the tonnage of zone 97 has been intersected by 93 holes totalling 12,500 metres.

Cambior has found a zinc-enriched area near the western limit of the zone, between levels 8 and 12, where 40 drill holes delineated 400,000 tonnes grading 17.5% zinc and 0.7% copper over a thickness of 3.4 metres.

With this success, Cambior plans to complete another 5,000 metres of definition drilling on the zone before the end of the year. The program will then be extended to define reserves between levels 7 and 11, as well below level 13.

The company expects to begin production from the zone during the latter half of 2000, though more drilling is scheduled for 2001 and 2002 to complete the definition of the structure.

The Langlois mine produced 7,200 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate and 250 tonnes of copper-in-concentrate in the second quarter. Head grades from zones 3 and 4 improved over the last two years from 6.4% zinc in 1997 to 7.9% zinc in the second quarter of 1999, and further improvements are expected.

The direct mining cost at Langlois for the first six months of 1999 was $35 per tonne, and the net smelter return was $42 per tonne.