With Nickel Rim expected to close in 2021, company is working on developing deeper mines
Glencore is working hard to develop new deposits in Sudbury ahead of 2021, when current deposits will largely be exhausted, city councillors were told Tuesday. That was the word from Peter Xavier, vice-president of the company’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, who updated the city on the state of their work in the city.
Glencore is the current owner of the mines, which date back to the late 1920s when it was owned by Falconbridge Ltd. Their largest deposit is the Nickel Rim South Mine, a deposit discovered in 2001 and brought into production in 2010.
“It’s the financial base of our operation,” Xavier said, adding they have done work in attempts to extend its life. “Unfortunately, those efforts haven’t proved to be successful.”
Fraser Mine is also prudcing ore, he said, but it would be a “marginal” operation without Nickel Rim and with nickel prices still low.
He said the company has spent $112 million developing technology to reduce emissions, but still face challenges lowering emissions further and still compete internationally.
Longer term, the company is working on the Craig Mine-Onaping depth project, which would take mining even deeper and would be operated as a fully electric mine. That would mean, for example, they wouldn’t have to vent diesel exhaust.
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