LETTER:…you want a “prove it first” example of mining in a water rich environment?

Letter to the Editor:

You want a “prove it first” example of mining in a water rich environment?  Here’s a good one.

Newmont Gold is a Denver based global miner with assets on numerous continents. The Musselwhite mine is a sulfide ore body that is located in Canada’s wilderness (a REAL wilderness)  and is so remote it was only accessible by air, (Fi/Fo) fly in/ fly out. It is now serviced by a gravel road.  You can’t get any closer to the water than what we see here and the operation is a clear indicator that safe underground mining in water-rich zones is possible. You want a “prove it first” example- here’s a good one.

Musselwhite Mine is a gold mine in Sulfide ore and is located approximately 500 kilometers north of Thunder Bay, Canada.

Musselwhite’s ore is mined from two main zones below Lake Opapimiskan. Ore is processed onsite using a circuit that includes crushing, grinding, leaching by cyanidation, carbon in pulp recovery and electrowinning. Gold recoveries are 96%.

Musselwhite Mine uses a tailings disposal method is called “thickened tailings”, a method that is somewhere in between a conventional tails dam and dry stack tails.

In 2016, work began on a $90-million materials handling project to improve the movement of ore to the mill.

I could not find any citations against this property for environmental reasons.  However, in 2015 an employee was killed and there may have been a Mine Safety Administration citation issued upon closure of the accident.

Bob Colombo

Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil