Already nearly a kilometre underground, an area mining operation may have just scratched the surface of its potential.
In 2008, with the market bottoming out, North American Palladium’s Lac Des Illes mine was pronounced dead.
“Our mine at that time was pretty much on its last legs,” chief operating officer Greg Struble said recently after showing off the mine’s expansion.
But since 2010 the company has spent more than $260 million, shifting from an open pit to underground ramps, as prices and hopes continue to rise. Now the mine is 825 metres underground.
A seemingly endless network of tunnels allows thousands of tonnes of rock to be hauled to the surface by massive trucks, eventually sent to an on-site mill that gathers precious ounces of palladium.
Along with their open pit, the mine turned out more than 161,000 ounces of the world’s 6.3 million last year.
It’s also hauling up more than 2 million tonnes of ore. Then there's copper, nickel, platinum and even some gold.
What’s more impressive though is what the mine has started developing next, a shaft that will be able to haul up to 7,000 tonnes of rock every day.
That will allow them to start phasing out the expensive and time-consuming truck-hauling method. All of that means it can start getting more metal for less money. The shaft is expected to start producing in the third quarter of this year.
According to North American Palladium, it could double the amount of yearly production at the mine into a market that demands more than 3 million ounces of palladium more than the world can produce every year.
“It’s an incredible story,” Struble said.
All of this has happened in a single square kilometre of the 62,000 acres the company holds. While the company has properties scattered across the region, the majority of that 62,000 acres are situated around Lac Des Illes.
There is huge potential around the mine as well, Struble said. The current operation, in what’s known as the mine’s offset zone, has given another eight years of operation alone.
Based on other exploration, Lac Des Illes could be operating for at least another 16 years.
“Depending on how much more we find, it’s clearly going to be based on that,” Struble said.
That could be good news for more than 300 employees at the mine. Human Resources director Christine Sibley said more than half of those employees live within 150 kilometres of the site.
“We’re looking at quite a bit of employment for Northwestern Ontario,” she said.
While the company said it’s not sure how much more employment expansion will bring, it is currently looking for 40 people to fill positions. And while it currently uses more than 170 outside contractors to complete the infrastructure, eventually they want to start hiring skilled-trades employees full-time.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is give back to the community, keep employment up and you have a dedicated workforce now, they have buy in because it’s part of their home community,” Sibley said.
