Yukon News Feb./28/97Cantung brightens Watson Lake's future
by Adam Killick
Yukon News reporter
The giant Cantung mine on the Yukon/Northwest Territories border may be awakening after a 10-year hibernation.
And its revival would be good news for the economically-depressed town of Watson Lake, 300 kilometres south of the minesite.
North American Tungsten Ltd. has announced an agreement-in-principle with Aur Resources of Toronto to acquire the Tungsten, NWT, mine and the Mactung
property, which also straddles the Yukon/NWT border at the Macmillan Pass.
The Cantung mine was in operation from 1962 to 1986.
When it first opened, it boasted the western world's wealthiest tungsten deposit.
At its peak, it was producing 1,200 tonnes of ore per day, six days a week. It accounted for 70 per cent of Canada's accumulated production.
It closed in 1986 because of depressed tungsten prices and a labor dispute.
The high grade of the tungsten in the area prompted exhaustive prospecting around the mine, which led to the discovery of the Mactung deposit 180 kilometres
north of Cantung.
According to North American Tungsten, that property is arguably the largest known concentrated deposit of high-grade scheelite tungsten ore in the Western
world.
It has "proven and probable" reserves of 23.3 million tonnes.
The Cantung mine still has 829,000 tonnes of minable tungsten, says the Canadian Mines Handbook.
Canada is a leading producer of tungsten, used widely in light-bulb filaments and electronic products.
The silver-grey substance has the highest melting point of any metal -- 3,410 degrees Celsius -- and thus remains extremely strong and hard at extreme
temperatures.
If all goes according to plan, the mine could be up and running in four to six months, Jack Daigle, a spokesman for North American Tungsten, said Wednesday.
Watson Lake mayor Barrie Ravenhill is encouraged by the news.
"We always did a lot of business with Cantung," he said.
The 1,500-person town was the staging area for trucking the tungsten ore to southern destinations, he said.
A trucking company was based there, and between 15 and 20 local people were employed transporting the ore, he added.
"Then there are all the spin-off things, like fuel parts for trucks, the increased traffic, and so on."
One of the people trucking the tungsten ore was Watson Lake MLA Dennis Fentie.
Fentie called the mine re-opening "very good news" for Waston Lake.
It employed around 350 people, and Watson Lake was busier because of it, he said.
"We had (Boeing) 737 air service back then," he noted.
"The economy in Watson Lake is depressed -- the opening of Cantung would obviously benefit us."
He would like to meet with the mine officials as the Watson Lake MLA, but noted that the licencing process for the mine is handled through the NWT.
Part of the purchase price for the Cantung mine includes a $3-million reclamation bond.
North American Tungsten owns worldwide rights to an original patented process for the processing of tungsten concentrate, which allows for more efficient
processing of the ore.
"It is intended that this acquisition would vertically integrate the company's technology with the Western world's largest tungsten deposits," a release from the
company concludes.
The deal is still subject to approval from the Vancouver Stock Exchange.
Daigle said the company should have a clearer indication of their plans in a month.
When the Cantung mine was last in full production, the townsite of Tungsten featured a bowling alley, bar, hockey rink and its own natural hot springs. |
