HudBay’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), opened the presentation with some great news on the community’s fiscal front (see story elsewhere) and things only got better from there. He handed things over to the company’s Lalor Project Manager, Kim Proctor, and she reacquainted herself with Snow Lakers and introduced everyone to the project that will guide both HudBay Minerals and the Town of Snow Lake into a new era of growth, development, and sustainability.

No stranger to many in the audience, Proctor handled the presentation with ease and began by advising the audience of what she has been up to in the years subsequent to her first 15. Those years were spent camping and angling with her parents at nearby Wekusko Falls. Employed with HudBay for the past 24 years, Proctor had worked at eight of their mines, when in 2007 she was asked to take a prominent role in the Lalor Project. In January 2011, she was appointed as the Project Manager for Lalor.

Proctor, who holds both a Professional Geoscientist and a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from Brandon University, advised the crowd that in her estimation Lalor is the largest pre-development deposit that the company has ever put into production. She noted that being a fast track project, it is quite unique to HudBay.

In explanation, she said that the company will normally begin a project with a scoping study that looks at revenue and expenses; they would then go to the pre-feasibility stage where design, engineering, and more in-depth cost estimates would be considered. From there a full-fledged feasibility study would be undertaken. It would look at detailed engineering, planning, and capital commitments.

However, construction of Lalor was scoped while drilling was in progress. She said that the drill results excited people so much that the pre-feasibility study and construction were jointly undertaken. "Engineering, procurement, and construction are going ahead simultaneously," said Proctor. "Everything is progressing, it isn’t a concept anymore, it’s a minesite."

Following this, the Project Manager gave an overview of the prolificacy of the Chisel Basin, the Lalor discovery, and the further drilling that has defined this enormous deposit. As well, she explained the thought pattern that brought it from discovery hole to what will no doubt become a flagship mine.

In this overview, Ms. Proctor stated that the top of Lalor’s orebody is situated 570m below surface and the bottom intersection is at the 1500m level; however, it is still open at depth. Thus far, Lalor has six base metal bearing horizons, with two main horizons among them. There are five gold bearing horizons, with two main zones and an immense copper-gold zone; exploration continues with 30 million tonnes outlined thus far.

Further to this, Proctor noted that one of the most recent drill holes completed on the property, Dub 189, caught a zone that didn’t line up with the property’s other lenses. "This is why it is so exciting," she said. "Because we believe that Lalor is only going to grow once we get underground, closer to these targets, and are able to do more diamond drilling."

The Geologist then moved on to sketch the timeline in respect to construction at the nearby site. She said that the property’s budget for 2011 is $163 million, which covers a lot of the major service infrastructure required for the project. Power was attained at the site in March, and water will be there the third week in May. Additionally, she spoke about the deposit’s three separate access points. The first of these will be the ramp from Chisel North, which she estimated was 61% complete, and on track. The second is the ventilation shaft – a vertical opening from the 835m level to surface. It was started in December of 2010 and with the collar and pre-sink completed, they are down to the 30.3m level. Official sinking will start in late May of 2011 and they hope to connect the ramp and the vent shaft by the end of 2011. The third point of access is the main shaft, or production shaft. It will be identical to the one at Flin Flon’s 777. As Proctor noted, "It works well, why change a good thing?" Awarding of the production shaft contract is just now being finalized. "Official sinking will begin in late October or early November 2011," she opined.

HudBay hopes to connect the ramp with the vent shaft in 2012, and there is also an opportunity to drive a heading into the first base metal orebody at that point and bring up some of Lalor’s rich ore. They will hoist this via a temporary headframe over the vent shaft. However, once the production shaft is commissioned, they will take the headframe away and it will revert to a vent shaft.

Further down the road, in 2013 they plan to join the main level up with production shaft. In 2014/15, the production shaft will be commissioned in addition to more lateral development and internal ramps to access the various ore lenses.

She explained that decisions are now being made on the mine plan and layout of ramps, ore passes, and rock breaker locations. Pointing to a screen at the front of the hall and a PowerPoint presentation she had been referring to, Proctor revealed a 3D cross section of the mine that spun on screen, depicting the orebody from all directions. Of the orebody, she noted that because of its shallow dip, the mining method would be the same or similar to Chisel North’s. They will take what works there and what doesn’t work and try to draw it into the Lalor Plan. They will also study a paste fill system for the mine; which would reduce the amount of tailings being dispersed.

There will be three main levels in the mine – the 835m level, which will be the key level, as well as the 910m and the 955m levels.

In relation to the concentrator, Proctor said that there is still no decision on the tradeoff study they have been undertaking in regard to using the current mill or building a new one. The project team will take their recommendations to the Board of Directors sometime during the summer of 2011. Nevertheless, she talked about the benefit of having a concentrator on site and being able to bring ore from underground, send it by conveyor to the crusher, then into the concentrator – they wouldn’t have to truck ore, only con.

In respect to the metallurgy of the ore – the deposit started as a zinc orebody, then they found gold, then copper. "It got to the point where the engineers said, ‘God, stop drilling… you are just complicating things,’" Proctor laughed. However, she says that metallurgy is encouraging to date with good recoveries, similar to Chisel North’s. They are able to combine ore from all of the deposit's lenses and still get good recoveries. "That is a huge accomplishment, to get that level of satisfaction," she said.

Moving away from the Lalor site and into town, Proctor reassured people that the camp on the outskirts of Snow Lake was not permanent. "When construction starts winding down, you will see the camp also wind down," she said assuredly. "We are not providing permanent accommodations for HudBay people, this is not our intention." Currently there are 30 people on the site and there will be 60 in camp by July 2011, when steel fabrication begins.

Prior to the end of the presentation, Ms. Proctor said that she wanted to recognize the group of people who work with her on the project. "Because of the fast track process, the question every day is, ‘How do we do things better, faster, cheaper?’" she said with admiration and praise for the hard work and innovation of her team. "They are inventive, they have good experience, and they put fires out on a day by day basis." Following this, she introduced key people in attendance.

Proctor reiterated the size of the project in relation to other’s in HudBay’s past and present portfolio, and cryptically predicted it would have at least a 20-year mine life. "By my count, this will be the 30th mine that HudBay has put into production," she said. "And by doing so, for sure we will be celebrating 100 years of mining in Manitoba."

With the presentation concluded, Proctor fielded a number of questions on subjects and issues such as tailings, roads, trap lines, financing, training, and apprenticeships. She also advised that the company would hold regular Snow Lake updates on the project. All questions were thoroughly answered and no one left this exceptional presentation wanting for . Written by Editor Marc Jackson- Underground Press

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