Marquette – January 19, 2015 – Over 200 business leaders and associates gathered last night at the Ramada Inn to hear the current summary and state of affairs for Lundin Mining on their locally owned Eagle Mine north of Marquette.
Welch went through the mining process that is in full swing at Eagle. Two thirds of what is mined is copper and one third nickel. By memory, I think he indicated this year approximately 20,000 tons of copper will be mined and 10,000 tons of nickel. Eagle is a primary nickel mine, copper is Eagle’s secondary product. This year Eagle will mine roughly 23,000 tonnes of nickel.
As far as marketability, in 2008 the price for precious metals dropped significantly and has come back since. On the world market, within the last year prices again dropped as the Chinese were stockpiling and hoarding a raw product called pig nickel. Recently the Chinese dumped tons and tons of this on the market and the price plummeted again. This again affects the market prices and Lundin Mining stock prices, recently running $3.5 to $5 a share.
Lundin spent $800 million so far to get the mine operational and are now hauling the ore 67 miles one way daily to Republic. New rail cars wait in the rail-yard where Lundin Mining improved 4 miles of track last summer and the fleet of capped rail cars is ready to accept the copper and nickel. Eagle has shipped over 400 rail cars to date.
Contractor VanDamme, owns the trucks that haul all of the copper and nickel to Republic with 12 trucks and 13 trailers in their fleet.
The local Lundin Mining workforce has grown to about 400 full time positions, 215 employees and about 185 contractors.
Safety and Risk was the first topic Welch spoke of, including extreme state of the art pinning and blocking of the tunnel passage underground which now extends miles down. Fresh air is piped in through multiple shafts with a safety elevator shaft installed for a back up exit.
Transportation and vehicles remain a high risk for the company with every Lundin Mining vehicle having GPS on board for monitoring of speed, fast and slow starts, and exactly where they are at any time.
Welch spoke of a legacy the mine wishes to leave during this eight year project on the big three which are safety, environment and community. Welch indicated they recapture all of the water they use at Eagle and are actively involved in new community projects.
