RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:New cite planAnyone else interested? here's the link and story, the credit goes to the Kamloops This Week Newspaper
https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/ajax-mine-footprint-to-be-moved-south-of-city/#comment-42783
KGHM Ajax has unveiled a new proposal it hopes will change public attitudes toward the proposed copper mine and allow it to begin construction in as little as two years.
The reconfigured mine plan involves moving the footprint farther south from the city and includes elimination of a tailings stack in favour of a conventional tailings pond located to the southeast.
The tailings pond will cover Goose Lake, which the company described as a slough that has a maximum depth of one metre.
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The joint venture between Polish-based KGHM and Vancouver junior partner Abacus Mining & Exploration Corp. is forecasting it can receive approval from the provincial and federal ministers in early 2016, with a target to begin construction in July of that year.
Details were made available on Wednesday, May 28, to Kamloops media outlets, including Kamloops This Week, on condition they would not be released publicly until today (May 29).
Company officials said changes are designed to address community concerns, including dust and visual impact.
“Most of the changes are a result of listening to the community,” said project manager Warner Uhl, who outlined the reconfigured mine to reporters in a series of meetings.
The most significant change will see a tailings pond, a man-made lake, created using waste rock to form an earthen berm and dam.
The tailings pond will move more than five kilometres southeast of the formerly proposed 200-foot tall dry tailings stack conceived under the original plan in 2010.
The plan for the dry tailings stack will be abandoned.
“The full height would have been 200 feet,” Uhl said.
“The concern with the Coquihalla [Highway] was if there had been a slide, it would have impacted the Coquihalla.”
Elimination of the tailings stack also means the mine will not be visible from the highway.
“The biggest advantage with wet [tailings] is we get away from this being close to the Coquihalla.”
The proposed changes that more tightly pack the operation and its rock dumps and associated facilities will also help address dust concerns, said Uhl and Nicola Barton, KGHM’s environmental-permitting manager.
The proposals will now be sent through the harmonized federal-provincial comprehensive environmental assessment.
KGHM plans to submit its complete application in March of next year.
“We’re not anticipating any additional additional environmental studies, but it’s their call to make,” Barton said of the agencies.
A NEW AJAX — BY THE NUMBERS:
$100 million: Spend thus far on development by KGHM Ajax.Five kilometres: Move southeast from the formerly conceived taiings stack to a proposed new conventional tailings pondTwo kilometres: Relocation of the north rock dump, mine processing and ore stockpile to the southFour kilometres: Distance of those sites from Aberdeen and Pineview Valley (the east wasterock facility will not move, but will be smaller)2018: When Ajax hopes to start production.June 24, 25, 26: Open-house dates on new mine plan.May 29: 3-D representation of proposed mine and its relationship to city available on company website.600 hectares: Maximum size of new proposed mine tailings pond.40 hectares: Size of Jacko Lake, beside the historic Ajax pit.0: Area of land within City of Kamloops the mine will occupy.— source: KGHM Ajax
KGHM Ajax has purchased properties from two families — Antoniak and Little — in order to facilitate the new mine footprint.
“We’ve treated these people fairly and with respect,” company spokesman Yves Lacasse said.
“No one was forced to sell their land.”
Ajax officials announced in August 2013 they were working on a new mine plan that would move the footprint to the south of Aberdeen.
They also said the pit would be expanded, along with ore production.
But, Uhl said, the ultimate circle of the enlarged historic Ajax pit will not change from the original plan.
Mine walls will be steeper, however.
There are no changes to the proposed 60,000 tonnes-a-day production target nor the anticipated 20-year mine life employing about 500 people.
Uhl acknowledged costs will be higher than the most recent capital cost estimate of about $800 million. The company has done engineering on the proposed tailings pond but continues engineering work on other proposed mine facilities.