The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
The major expansion of Xstrata Copper’s Kidd Creek mine is complete. Kidd Operations announced Thursday the $120-million extension to the Kidd Mine in Timmins is on time and on budget.
Approved by Xstrata in 2008, the extension to the mining zone at Mine D from 9,100 feet to 9,600 feet will extend operations by at least two years to the first half of 2018.
Further extensions to the mine life have been identified through the 2020 Vision program to elicit suggestions from employees on how to maximise the value of the operation.
The program, launched in February 2011, has already resulted in significant cost savings and an additional 700,000 tonnes of ore reserves being identified with the objective of extending operations further to 2020.
“The continued development of the deepest base metal mine in the world is a challenge and reflects Xstrata Copper’s commitment to the sustainability of our Kidd operations and the Timmins community” said Tom Semadeni, general manager of Kidd Operations.
“I am pleased to congratulate the dedicated team of engineering and technical experts, project leaders, employees, contractors and suppliers who worked together to bring this project to fruition.”
The latest Mine D expansion was the second stage of a project that extended mining from 8,800 feet since 2007 for total investment of $148 million.
Xstrata is a global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss Stock Exchanges. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Xstrata maintains a meaningful position in seven major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc with additional exposure to gold, cobalt, lead and silver.
The Xstrata Group also comprises a growing platinum group metals business, iron ore projects, recycling facilities and a suite of global technology products, many of which are industry leaders.
The Group’s operations and projects span 20 countries.
Xstrata Copper is the fourth largest global copper producer with attributable mined production in 2010 of 913,500 tonnes of copper in cathodes and concentrates. The company is also one of the world’s largest producers of smelter and refined copper, including from third party materials.