https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/
Red Moon Resources hopes to expand mining operations over next 2-3 years
A mine that closed decades ago on the province’s west coast has restarted operations, as a new company has taken over the Flat Bay mine and shipped its first load of gypsum out to market since 1990.
Red Moon Resources sent the load of ore, destined for the cement industry, to Ontario via the deep water port in St. George’s at the end of August. “We’re just getting up and running,” said Patrick Laracy, the CEO of St. John’s-based Red Moon Resources, a company that completed the permitting process to begin mining operations in July.
Gypsum is used mainly in two industries: cement and wallboard, with the latter sometimes better known by the brand name Gyprock. The Flat Bay mine, just south of St. George’s, began producing gypsum in 1952, but was closed in 1990.
“The Flat Bay mine was not exhausted. There are millions of tonnes of gypsum there,” said Laracy. “We’ve been busy over the last year, defining the particular resource for gypsum there and determining whether or not we could enter into the marketplace and make a commercial venture out of this.”
Finding customers
Laracy said the gypsum market is a competitive one. Red Moon Resources employed around a dozen people to ship its first load to market, but the mine is currently in standby mode as the company searches for buyers for the product.
“We’re just out of the gate, really, in terms of our ability to sell the product. Our focus now is on 2019,” he said, adding there’s a four- to eight-month lead time on lining up customer orders.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/gypsum-mining-flat-bay-red-moon-resources-1.4816850