Red Dog Mine gets new general manager

It is business as usual at Red Dog, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrates.

But a new general manager is in charge of guiding operations at the huge production facility 90 miles north of Kotzebue.

John Knapp, 49, took on the top job at Red Dog earlier in December, when his boss, Robert G. Scott, was appointed vice president of base metal mining at Teck Cominco Ltd., the mine's owner.

Knapp came to work as mill manager at Red Dog in January after 25 years at other Teck Cominco lead/zinc operations, most recently nine years at the now-closed Polaris mine on Little Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic. An underground lead-zinc mine discovered in 1960, Polaris produced lead-zinc concentrates for 21 years from defined reserves exceeding 25 million tonnes, grading about 14 percent zinc and 4 percent lead. Polaris hosted a visit from NANA officials in the early 1980s that helped convince the Alaska Native regional corporation to partner with Cominco Ltd. to develop Red Dog. Cominco later merged with Teck Corp.

Knapp, a mineral processing and mining engineer trained at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, stayed on at Polaris after the mine closed in 2002 to help execute a two-year, $53 million reclamation plan at the older mine.

Production, profits up

Knapp, who says he is still learning the ins and outs of Red Dog, sees good things on the horizon for the mine, which has proven and probable reserves of roughly 75 million tonnes, grading 18 percent zinc and 4.7 percent lead. This is his second stint at Red Dog. He worked at Red Dog on loan from the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, British Columbia, for one year in the early 1990s.

"We have enough reserves at Red Dog to last 25-30 years, and we conduct ongoing exploration. We remain optimistic about the future," Knapp told Mining News Dec. 15.

Higher zinc prices in recent months have boosted profitability, and the mine is already running at capacity of 600,000 tonnes of zinc metal per year and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future, he said.

In August, Red Dog set a monthly production record along with several daily highs for zinc concentrates, Knapp said. The mine posted total zinc metal production of 155,600 tonnes and lead metal production of 28,800 tonnes in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Thanks to higher zinc prices and higher sales volumes, operating profits during the quarter nearly doubled, jumping to $106 million from $59 million a year earlier.

Environmental, safety progress

In 2005, the mine made progress in most areas of operation, including ongoing implementation of requirements for the ISO 14001 certification it attained in 2004. The 25,000 man-hour project that took more than two years to complete involved every aspect of Red Dog's operations, from mining and milling ore to freight and fuel hauling and storage.

Achieving the internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems enhanced Teck Cominco's position as an industry leader in the world and demonstrates the company's stewardship of the environment, Knapp said.

A tangible benefit of ISO 14001 certification is an improvement in Red Dog's relationship with various federal, state and local agencies.

"It gives management and agencies confidence that we have the tools to operate within regulatory compliance," Knapp said.

One sign of progress was settlement in February with the Environmental Protection Agency of a 2002 dispute over dust discharges at Red Dog's DeLong Mountain Transportation System port facility on the Chukchi Sea. Teck Cominco paid a fine of $33,000, and spent nearly $16 million on dust controls and other initiatives that were completed this fall with Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation oversight and local community involvement.

Red Dog managers and employees also worked hard this year to improve safety at the mine. The lost-time accident rate at the mine decreased in both frequency and severity in 2005, Knapp said. The improvement followed a sharp spike in most safety measures at Red Dog in 2004. "Yes, we have work to do on the production side with cost management, environmental stewardship, and safety is one of the pillars we focus on as well," Knapp said.

Other achievements during 2005 include installing a water treatment plant that increased the mine's capacity for treatment and discharge of water, adding a small lift that increased the capacity of the tailings lake, reducing worker turnover at Red Dog and boosting the percentage of NANA shareholders in the work force about 5 percentage points to 55-60 percent from a year ago, Knapp said. Mine managers also improved and redoubled training and recruitment efforts on the job and off site at 11 nearby communities, he said.

"Ultimately, our goal is to have 100 percent shareholder hire among workers and management at this site," Knapp said, noting that efforts involve including local youth in activities such as job shadowing, career fairs, scholarships and support for Iditarod musher John Baker's annual inspirational tour of village schools in Bush Alaska.

"My goals are no different from my predecessor's: safety, cost control, enhancement of NANA's position at the mine, and production," he added.