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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (37509)	5/22/2009 7:26:10 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 194568

Terrane plans set bclocalnews.com Published: May 19, 2009 4:00 PM Andrew Thrift of Terrane Metals spoke on the design for the closure of Mt. Milligan during the recent Mineral North conference. He acknowledged Nak’azdli and the community who hosted Minerals North. Thrift shared how the mine plans on using a skilled local workforce of about 400 full time employees in construction, peaking at a high of 700 workers. The operation numbers would be lower. In a presentation Thrift titled EA for Dummies, Thrift explained the Environmental Assessment process. “The EA takes baseline studies, wildlife, fisheries, and archeology,” Thrift said. “The next step is open houses where the public comments, and then turn that into a piece of paper that the minister signs on.” Terrane received approval by the Province, and is now waiting for federal approval. “The federal process is a challenge,” he said. “It is getting through the next steps. There will be a public comment period coming up.” The current plan is to start construction by mid 2010 and to start production in 2012. Around the mine site there are three creeks, the Rainbow Creek, Meadows Creek, and King Richard Creek. King Richards Creek is close to where the tailings pond will be located. It is not great fish habitat so that is where the bulk of the tailing facilities will be located. “Meadows Creek is the best habitat for fish and (the mine) won’t have too much affect (on it) but there will be a flow reduction,” Thrift said. “Rainbow Creek will have flow reduction as well.” Terrane has conducted long-term samples and testing of the acid rock drainage area. Controlling water quality is a huge issue that every mine faces. “We predicted that we won’t have much seepage past the damn, but what happens if we do start seeing seepage is that we have seepage ditches further down,” Thrift said. Things like that are contingencies that we can use if we need to. This is all part of the Environmental Management Framework.” The last time the EA was approved for the Mt. Milligan mine area was in 1993. Terrane has reduced the footprint of the Terrane mine by 29 per cent. Terrane has thought out how they will access power. They will use existing roads as much as possible. Thrift discussed how acid-generating rock would be stored. “All potentially acid generated rock is to be stored under water in a tailings pond or open pit,” Thrift said. “(There will be) no waste rock dumps at the end of operations.” According to Thrift the end of operations footprint is very compact. “Potentially acid generating material goes in the centre of the facilities,” he said. “Non acid generating rock is going towards constructing the damn. Draining the tailings pond into the open pit at the end of the mine life takes 22 years. After pit closure, the pond will flow out to a long path through a wetland, and then flow out through a spillway to Meadow Creek which will be reestablished. “One of the keys is the water quality,” he said. “(There will be) no water treatment requirement. We have included it as a contingency.”