This may have positive spin-off effect on the Wildcat Reed Lake property. JMHO.
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Lalor Mine Development Expected to Significantly Increase HudBay's Gold and Zinc Production
On August 4, 2010, HudBay's board of directors made a full commitment to the development of the company's 100% owned Lalor project by authorizing the expenditures necessary to put the project into full production. Initial production from the access ramp is scheduled in the second quarter of 2012 and full production from the 985 meter production shaft is anticipated in late 2014. The project's estimated capital cost of $560 million, which includes $21.5 million spent as at June 30, 2010, is expected to fund full project development, including access to the gold and copper-gold zones and a comprehensive upgrade of the company's Snow Lake concentrator. HudBay intends to fully fund the project from its current cash resources and future cash flows.
"The board's approval to proceed with full development of the Lalor mine is a significant milestone for our company," said Mr. Garofalo. "The excellent exploration results at Lalor combined with HudBay's experience in the region over the past 80 years have given us the confidence to develop Lalor on a fast track basis and establish it as HudBay's next mine. When it reaches full production we expect the Lalor mine will add significant value to our company by nearly doubling gold production and increasing zinc production by 50%."
The company's current mine planning for Lalor contemplates the following:
-- Full production of 3,500 tonnes of ore per day.
-- The $560 million estimated capital cost, $21.5 million of which has been
spent as at June 30, 2010 on the ramp access, site preparation and
equipment purchases, includes an average 13% contingency. The approved
expenditure is intended to fully fund project development, including the
extension of power and water facilities to the site, a 300 person camp,
surface and underground construction at the mine site, including the
completion of the access ramp, a production shaft and a ventilation
shaft, an upgrade to the existing tailings facility and a comprehensive
upgrade of the company's Snow Lake concentrator.
-- Construction at the concentrator will include replacing copper and zinc
floatation cells and concentrate dewatering equipment, and construction
of a new gold leach plant which is intended to improve gold recovery.
Upon completion of the upgrades, the concentrator will be capable of
processing 3,500 tonnes of material per day and will principally produce
zinc and copper concentrates and gold dore bars.
Indicated Mineral Resource at Lalor Increases by 8.1%
The company also announced today an updated National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant mineral resource estimate for the base metal zone, which increases the tonnage in the indicated resource category by 8.1% from the resource announced in October 2009.
