Falconbridge Ltd.

• Author: TOMLINSON, MARLA
• Position: Brief Article

Falconbridge Ltd.'s purchase of the Montcalm deposit may pave the way for new mining possibilities for the Timmins area, says. John McDonald, project manager with Falconbridge.

In May of this year, Falconbridge bought the complete Montcalm deposit, located about 55 kilometres west of the Kidd metallurgical division (Met), from Outokumpu.

Although it is primarily a nickel deposit, cobalt and copper will also be mined.

Originally, Falconbridge had decided to sign with Outokumpu for the right to earn a 50 per cent interest in Montcalm, and also completed a conceptual study during the year. However, Falconbridge opted instead to purchase the entire deposit.

"The decision to purchase 100 per cent of Montcalm will provide Falconbridge greater flexibility to optimize the integration of this operation with our other nickel operations," says Warren Holmes, senior vice-president for Canadian mine operations, Falconbridge Ltd. "This is a good investment opportunity for Falconbridge as it fits well with our existing operations and supports our growth strategies."

Falconbridge purchased Montcalm for $14 million and is currently completing an advanced exploration project, McDonald says.

"The project, as it stands now, will last approximately six months," McDonald says. "That involves underground drifting with some raising, drilling, engineering and designing to convert one of the copper/zinc circuits at the Met site into a nickel/copper circuit."

Right now the Met site is a copper/zinc circuit. McDonald says if the company pursues this project to convert one of the divisions to accommodate nickel processing, new doors will be open in the Timmins area for other nickel deposits to have access to local processing. Previously, the cost of transporting the unprocessed ore to Sudbury made nickel mining uneconomical.

The Met...