|
TURNING SILVER INTO ZINC USING GRAVITY: PDAC Presentation I’d like to tell you a story about the mining equivalent of the Mary Celeste. A mine that was within 3 weeks of completion and that 20 years later still has wet paint signs hanging in the mill, awaiting the return of the construction crew. The Cadillac Mine in the Northwest Territories was built in 1982, at a cost in today’s money in excess of $100M, by the Hunt Brothers as part of their attempt to capture the world silver market. The Hunts funded construction of a 1000 ton per day mill and development of over 5 kilometers of underground workings on a high-grade vein structure. The intention was to produce a copper-lead concentrate containing significant quantities of silver, which would be airlifted from the site and a zinc concentrate which could be transported annually across a winter road. Like most attempts to capture and control metal
markets, the Hunts’ efforts collapsed, leaving the mine within three
weeks of completion and the original Cadillac operation bankrupt. |
      |
|
