Glencores vice-president of Sudbury nickel operations, Marc Boissonneault, has commented that the company will have to dig deeper mines to access previously untapped deposits. He addressed the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday as Glencore is eyeing two potential Sudbury developments that would require mine shafts as deep as 2,700 meters.
The first project is Onaping Mine, a site that was discovered years ago, but contains ultra-deep deposits that have not been accessed safely until recently. Glencore officials estimates the mine contains 15.7 million tons of nickel deposits at higher grades than average for the Sudbury Basin, and would require a capital expenditure of $547 million to develop. The company will have to complete a pre-feasibility study later in the year, and will decide by the first or second quarter of next year whether it would be worthwhile to mine the deep deposits.
Glencore is currently exploring a second deposit near Nickel Rim, its flagship mine, but about 1,000 metres deeper than the current minewhich extends to around 1,700 metres underground. If the deposit proves to be feasible, along with the Onaping Mine it could extend Glencore’s Sudbury nickel production until the mid-2030s.