Local take on Kidd Creek and exploration (also see Ogden)https://www.timminspress.com/2016/06/13/porcupine-camp-remains-mineral-rich
“That’s the history of the Timmins area,” van Hees said.
“Until Kidd Creek came along, we were a gold-mining camp.”
Kidd Creek, now owned by Glencore, is celebrating its 50th anniversary of production of copper, zinc and silver
“I don’t think anybody expected Kidd Creek to be as big a deposit as it turned out to be,” van Hees said.
“If economics change a little bit, in particular the price of zinc, the deposit is more zinc rich the further down you go, and if the price of zinc goes up, they might be able to continue on beyond the current mine life (2021).
“The ore body continues and I don’t think they have done a detailed sampling program to depth. They have done some testing and they think there is another couple of thousand feet, at least, of ore body down below. It’s just a matter of what’s the price of the commodity.
“If zinc is in shorter supply next year, the mine may continue beyond 2021.”
Just how big was the ore body discovered at Kidd Creek?
“The deposit itself is an elephant,” van Hees said.
“There are not that many deposits that get to be that big. There are a couple of other ones in the world, including one in Spain but this is a huge deposit. We would be fortunate to find another one, or anything that is half the size of this one.
“There are four other smaller things, like Kamiskotia, that are six million to seven million tonnes. Montcalm is a different kind of deposit. Structurally, it is different but it was somewhere along the lines of six million tonnes, possibly a bit more.
“There are other little deposits around and in Quebec, in the Noranda area, you had one very large deposit and many other smaller deposits.”
That would certainly suggest there is a chance of finding more base metals in the region.
“The potential is here for finding other smaller deposits in the area. It’s just a matter of if it is worthwhile,” van Hees said.
“For the big companies, it’s not. The big companies always look for really big targets. But for smaller companies it is definitely worth exploring.
“The thing about massive sulphide deposits is they are extremely rich. The amount of copper and zinc that’s in an ore body is almost pure sphalerite. Depending on the minerals, you are going to get a very high concentration of metal and dollar-wise, there is an awful lot of money.
“In a sphalerite ore body, typically comes two ounces of silver per tonne. That’s a lot of money, especially when the price of silver is up. That goes a long way toward paying for a mining operation.”