Daily PressGold firm finds way to go green
Lake Shore utilizing technology to remove cyanide from tailings
Posted By BRANDON WALKER THE DAILY PRESS
Posted 3 days ago
While many companies have been forced to cut costs due to a struggling economy, several mining companies such as Lake Shore Gold Corp. are thriving.
The success is due to stable market prices for gold, one of the issues a Lake Shore representative spoke about on Thursday.
The company held a public meeting at the Howard Johnson Inn to discuss its environmental measures, including a way to remove cyanide from tailings before it enters the pond.
A few years ago Lake Shore purchased the Bell Creek operation, located about six kilometres north of the Government Complex, from Goldcorp.
Lake Shore plans to add Inco SO2 Cyanide Destruction technology, a unique way of removing cyanide from tailings, to the mill.
The company's manager of environmental affairs, Harri Ollila, said the technology is roughly 20 years old but he feels it is the best way to deal with tailings.
"At the end of the day, the environment is very important to Lake Shore Gold," Ollila said.
"There are other ways to remove cyanide from water, but we're going to treat the mill slurry itself so what comes out of the pipe will be cyanide free."
Generally, mining companies would allow the tailings to settle, the cyanide would drain and run off into the pond. Then, it would be treated with hydrogen peroxide to destroy the cyanide.
The SO2 Cyanide Destruction plant costs more than $1 million to install and about $500,000 a year to run.
Lake Shore representatives believe the Timmins West mine will produce gold for 10 years or more.
The company has been working with Aboriginal communities near its Timmins West project, Flying Post and Mattagami First Nations. A dialogue has been created to explain the project to them.
"We believe First Nations are a very important part of the community and very pleased with the relationship we've developed so far," Ollila said.
"I think we have the community of Timmins behind us and we're going to do our best to have a very environmentally friendly operation."
The SO2 Cyanide Destruction plant is costly but the company is focused on its environmental impact no matter how the economy is doing.
"I think people have more faith in gold than currencies around the world right now," Ollila said.
"They're fluctuating so rapidly with this economic situation but gold is staying very stable. Usually in times of crisis the public confidence turns toward gold," he said.
"Things are looking good, we're in the right metal for mining, that's for sure."