The Red Dog deposits are considered examples of clastic-dominated sediment hosted lead–zinc deposits.

The Red Dog mine area deposits consist of four stacked and complexly-deformed mineralized bodies that are contained in the Red Dog thrust plate. They have been structurally detached from their original footwalls and are imbricated in separate thrust sheets, positioned from highest to lowest and south to north: Qanaiyaq, Main, Aqqaluk and Paalaaq. Anarraaq is located about 10 km northwest of the Red Dog Mine at depths of 600–700 m, and situated within a shallowly southwesterly-dipping thrust panel of Red Dog stratigraphy. The Aktigiruq deposit is situated directly to the north of the Anarraaq deposit and roughly 12 km to the northwest of the Red Dog Mine. The Su deposit is located 22 km northwest of the Red Dog Mine.

The Red Dog deposits have similar host rock lithologies, mineral assemblages, and degrees of silicification, but differ in thicknesses, proportions of mineralization types and styles, and average grades. From base to top, the mine deposits are generally characterized by sulphide veins and breccias, massive sulphide, silica rock or silicified barite, sulphide-bearing barite and sulphide-poor barite. Brief deposit descriptions follow for those deposits where Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves have been estimated:

• Aqqaluk: lies directly to the north of the Main deposit, demarcation of the deposit is arbitrary and defined as any mineralization that is potentially mineable by open pit methods, which lies north of the roughly east–west line made by Shelly Creek and Red Dog Creek; dimensions of 700 m east–west, 600 m north–south and up to 150 m thick;

• Paalaaq: arcuate-shaped mineralized zone lying to the north of the Aqqaluk deposit; dimensions of 1,200 m long in a north–south direction, is 100 m to 200 m wide from east to west and up to 60 m thick;

• Qanaiyaq: 600 m to the south of the Main deposit; contained within a 600 m x 850 m klippe. Has elevated zinc and lead grades compared to the other mine-area deposits;

• Anarraaq: elongate lens-shaped massive sulphide body; dimensions of 1,000 m long, 500 m wide and up to 80 m thick.

Most of the Aqqaluk and Qanaiyaq mineralization is massive and unbedded, consisting of abundant sulphide grains and aggregates disseminated in a dense silica matrix. There is an apparent geochemical zoning, with Qanaiyaq and the Main deposit having higher average lead and zinc grades than Aqqaluk and Paalaaq. Vertical geochemical zoning, based on Zn:Fe and Zn:Pb ratios, is also evident. Mineralization at Anarraaq and Aktigiruq ranges from laminated or banded to brecciated. Sulphide mineralization consists of semi-massive to massive sphalerite, pyrite, marcasite and galena. Textures include massive, fragmental and veined types. Sedimentary layering within the sulphide zones is rare.

The Red Dog mine currently operates two open pits at Aqqaluk and Qanaiyaq using conventional open pit drill and blast and truck and loader technology.

The larger of the two, the Aqqaluk pit, is approximately 945 m (3,100 ft) along its widest axis, east–west, and an average of 701 m (2,300 ft) in the perpendicular, north–south. The smaller of the two, the Qanaiyaq pit, is located 1.4 km (4,700 ft) south of the Aqqaluk pit and is approximately 732 m (2,400 ft) along its widest axis, northwest–southeast, and an average of 457 m (1,500 ft) in the perpendicular, northeast–southwest.

Both pits are mined on single 7.6 m (25 ft) benches and are accessed via two-lane haul roads. The haul roads are designed with a running width of 22.9 m (75 ft) and include 3.7 m (12 ft) safety berms and 1.8 m (6 ft) ditches; the total design width is 28.3 m (93 ft). Long-term haul roads are designed to a maximum grade of 10%, and short-term haul roads are designed to a maximum grade of 12%.

The Aqqaluk pit is generally dry, but seeps occur in fracture zones. Pumping rates from the Aqqaluk pit vary from up to 75.7 l/s (1,200 gpm) in spring and summer, down to less than 6.3 l/s (100 gpm) in winter. The Qanaiyaq pit is generally dry. Wet conditions can become problematic in both pits during spring freshet after winters with deep snow pack if temperatures increase too quickly. This leads to rapid snow melt causing water to report to the lowest bench of the pits at a rate greater than the peak pumping capacity. These extreme freshets are mitigated by storing the excess water on the lowest bench and adjusting the mining plan to excavate higher benches for the few days required for the pumping system to catch up and remove the water.

Three of the four phases in the Aqqaluk pit remain to be mined and mining of the first of the two phases in the Qanaiyaq pit started in 2016. The Qanaiyaq pit is planned to operate until 2027 and the Aqqaluk pit until 2031. The final year will also treat the low-grade ore stockpile. The waste to mill feed strip ratio over the life of the Aqqaluk pit is 0.87:1. The waste to mill feed strip ratio over the life of the Qanaiyaq pit is 2.18:1. Waste rock from the Aqqaluk and Qanaiyaq pits will be used to completely backfill the mined-out Main and Qanaiyaq pits.

The Red Dog flow sheet uses three stages of grinding and froth flotation technology to recover sphalerite and galena to the zinc and lead concentrates respectively. Following crushing and grinding, slurry reports to a pre-flotation circuit to remove elemental sulphur and naturally occurring organic material. The pre-flotation section consists of both a rougher and a cleaner stage. The rougher stage consists of mechanical cells while the cleaner circuit is a Jameson cell. The Jameson cell is used to minimize the loss via entrainment of both fine lead and zinc particles to the pre flotation concentrate using dilution. The lead flotation circuit consists of a rougher circuit in closed circuit with cleaner columns. Xanthate is used as sulphide collector and cyanide is used as the main pyrite depressant. Tower mills are used for regrind to provide additional mineral liberation. Typical lead recovery to the lead concentrate varies between 55-65% depending on ore type. The final lead concentrate is thickened and filtered. The lead flotation tailings reports to the zinc circuit. Copper sulfate is used to activate sphalerite while xanthate is used as the sulphide collector. The zinc flotation circuit consists of a rougher circuit followed by three stages of cleaning and a retreat circuit. The zinc rougher concentrate is reground by one M5000 IsaMill for additional liberation. The tailings from the zinc cleaner circuit is further reground in another M5000 IsaMill before feeding a three stage zinc retreat circuit. The zinc retreat final concentrate is combined with the zinc cleaner concentrate to make up the final zinc concentrate. The zinc concentrate is then thickened and filtered.

Concentrate is stored on site then hauled by truck to the port site facility on the Chukchi Sea. The concentrates are stored at the port and then shipped to the contracted smelting facilities during the shipping season between early July and early October.

Construction progressed on the US$135 million mill upgrade project, called VIP2, with planned startup on schedule for the first quarter of 2020. The project started construction in late 2017, and is expected to increase average mill throughput by about 15% over the remaining mine life, helping to offset lower grades and harder ore.

The VIP2 project envisages that the main modifications to the grinding circuit will be to allow the SAG1 and SAG2 mills to draw the same amount of power as the SAG3 mill, and the addition of one M15000 IsaMill as a quaternary mill. The flotation circuit will be augmented with six OK-16 lead scavenger cells and one Jameson cell as a zinc 1st rougher concentrate cleaner.

Construction on the mill upgrade project, called VIP2, was completed in 2020.