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Canada

Lalor Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Zinc
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Mechanized Cut & Fill
  • Longitudinal retreat
  • Longhole open stoping
  • Post Pillar Cut & Fill
  • Drift & Fill
  • Transverse open stoping
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SnapshotLalor mine in Snow Lake produces gold ore for the newly refurbished New Britannia mill and base metal ore for the Stall concentrator.

Lalor mine consists of the Lalor deposit and its associated 1901 satellite zone. The 1901 deposit is expected to enter production in 2027.
Related AssetManitoba (Snow Lake) Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Hudbay Minerals Inc. 100 % Direct
Hudbay Minerals Inc. owns a 100% interest in the Lalor property through one Mineral Lease and eight Order in Council Leases.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • VMS

Summary:

The Snow Lake deposits including Lalor are all located within the Trans-Hudson Orogen of the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt. The volcanic assemblages consist of mafic to felsic volcanic rocks with intercalated volcanogenic sedimentary rocks.

The volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits located near the town of Snow Lake have been subdivided into two different groups: Cu-Zn-rich (Cu-Zn, Cu-Zn-Au) and Zn-Cu-rich (Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag) types. The Cu-Zn-rich deposits mainly occur in the Anderson sequence and the Zn-Cu-rich deposits occur in the Chisel sequence. The Watts and Talbot deposits, located east-southeast of the town of Snow Lake lies in the eastern portion of the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone belt and is a stratabound accumulation of sulphides that precipitated in a depositional environment similar to the base metal deposits of the Snow Lake mining camp.

The Lalor deposit and its associated 1901 satellite zone are interpreted as a gold enriched volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) deposit that precipitated at or near the seafloor in association with contemporaneous volcanism, forming a stratabound accumulation of sulphide minerals. The depositional environment for the mineralization is similar to that of present and past producing base metal deposits in felsic to mafic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks in the Snow Lake mining camp. The deposit appears to have an extensive associated hydrothermal alteration pipe.

The Lalor VMS deposit is isoclinaly folded and flat lying, with zinc mineralization beginning at approximately 600 metres from surface and extending to a depth of approximately 1,400 metres. The mineralization trends about 320° to 340° azimuth and dips between 30° and 45° to the northeast. It has a lateral extent of about 1,400 metres in the north-south direction and 780 metres in the east-west direction. Sulphide mineralization is pyrite, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. The current interpretation suggests the deeper copper-gold lens tends to have a much more linear trend to the north than the rest of the zones. Gold and silver enriched zones occur near the margins of the sulphide lenses and in local silicified footwall alterations. These silicified areas often correlate with disseminated stringer chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite, whether together or independent of each other. This footwall gold mineralization is typical of VMS footwall feeder zones with copper-rich disseminated and vein style mineralization overlain by massive zinc-rich zones. The gold bearing lithologies remain open down plunge to the north and northeast.

The depositional environment for the mineralization at Lalor and the 1901 deposit are similar to present and past producing base metal deposits in felsic to mafic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks in the Snow Lake mining camp. The deposits appear to have an extensive associated regional hydrothermal alteration.

The mineralized envelopes are shallow dipping, with zinc mineralization defined to date beginning at approximately 600 m from surface and extending to a depth of approximately 1,100 m. The mineralization trends about N320° to N340° azimuth and dips between 30° and 45° to the north. It has a lateral extent of about 1,400 m in the north-south direction and 800 m in the east-west direction.

Sulphide mineralization is dominated by pyrite and sphalerite. In the near solid (semi-massive) to solid (massive) sulphide sections, pyrite occurs as fine to coarse grained crystals ranging one to six millimetres and averages two to three millimetres in size. Sphalerite occurs interstitial to the pyrite. A crude bedding or lamination is locally discernable between these two sulphide minerals. Near solid coarse-grained sphalerite zones occur locally as bands or boudins that strongly suggest that remobilization took place during metamorphism.

Disseminated blebs and stringers of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite occur locally within the massive sulphides, adjacent to and generally in the footwall of the massive sulphides. The hydrothermally altered rocks in the footwall commonly contain some very low concentrations of sulphide minerals. Some sections of massive pyrrhotite occur, but these tend to give way to pyrite-sphalerite-dominant zones.

The top two lenses of the stacked base metal zones at Lalor (referred to as Zone 10 and 11) and lenses 1 and 3 at the 1901 deposit have higher grade zinc and iron content. Lenses located lower in the stratigraphy and coded as Zones 20, 30, 31, 32, 40 and 42 at Lalor have moderate to high zinc grades hosted in near solid sulphides containing higher grade gold and locally appreciable amounts of copper.

The footwall gold mineralization is typical of any VMS footwall feeder zone with copper-rich, disseminated and vein style mineralization overlain by a massive, zinc-rich lens. The fact that the footwall zone is strongly enriched in gold suggests a copper-gold association which is comparable to other gold enriched VMS camps and deposits (Mercier-Langevin, 2009). Some of the footwall zones tend to be associated with silicification and the presence of gahnite. These zones are often characterized by copper-gold association and are currently interpreted as being associated with higher temperature fluids below a zone of lower temperature base-metal accumulations.

Gold and silver enriched zones occur near the margins of the zinc rich sulphide lenses and as lenses in local silicified alteration. Remobilization is illustrated in some of the gold-rich zones by late veining that is restricted to the massive lenses.

Some of the footwall zones tend to be associated with silicification and the presence of gahnite. These zones are often characterized by copper-gold association and are currently interpreted as being associated with higher temperature fluids below a zone of lower temperature base-metal accumulations.

General observations of the known gold zones indicate areas which are coarse-grained and porphyroblastic in nature are gold poor, while fine grain siliceous (± veins ± sulphide traces) and strained looking stratigraphy tend to be gold rich. However, the intensity and style of alteration can vary strongly over short distances and may suggest that the alteration was forming discordant stockwork like zones that are now strongly transposed in the main foliation (Mercier-Langevin, 2009).

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnits202320222021202020192018201720162015
Copper Metal in concentrate t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe8,113*7,4255,9235,6375,552
Copper Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe41*37292727
Zinc Metal in concentrate t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe75,144*71,17379,02871,07569,243
Zinc Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe147*139153138134
Gold Metal in doré oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Gold Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Gold Metal in conc./ doré oz  ....  Subscribe
Silver Metal in doré oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Silver Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Silver Metal in conc./ doré oz  ....  Subscribe
* Combined production for 777 Mine and Lalor Mine

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Daily ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe4,500 t
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe1,536,780 t1,260,241 t1,293,418 t1,086,362 t934,277 t
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe1,290,300 t1,201,466 t1,102,034 t1,089,530 t928,501 t
Daily mining capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe6,000 t6,000 t6,000 t6,000 t
Daily milling rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,000 t2,985 t
Daily milling capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,000 t

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency20232022202120202019201820172016
UG mining costs ($/t mined) CAD 142.35  136.71  114.95  96.5  104.42  94.7  80.1  66.4  
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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EV - Electric
AV - Autonomous

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 15, 2024
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EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2021

Aerial view:

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