The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Teck enhances water management at NW Alaska operation North of 60 Mining News – February 19, 2021
Concentrates containing 1.1 billion lb of zinc and 215 million lb of lead were shipped from Teck's Red Dog Mine during 2020.
Teck Resources Ltd. Feb. 18 reported that the Red Dog Mine produced 490,700 metric tons (1.08 billion pounds) of zinc during 2020, a roughly 11% drop from the 552,400 metric tons (1.22 billion lb) of the galvanizing metal produced in 2019.
Lead production at the Northwest Alaska operation was also down slightly from the 102,800 metric tons (226.6 million lb) produced in 2019 to the 97,500 metric tons (214.9 million lb) produced last year.
Teck says climate related water management issues is a primary reason for the lower metals production at Red Dog last year.
"Climate change is affecting conditions in the receiving environment, which limited our ability to discharge treated water in 2020, leading to increased water in the storage facilities," Teck penned in its fourth quarter 2020 report. "Throughout 2020, we completed several projects to increase storage capacity and implemented a breakthrough RACE21 project that significantly increased water treatment capability. In addition, a new water treatment plant was installed to increase the water discharge capacity when permit limitations allow. These projects removed the temporary restrictions from the mine plan put in place to manage water levels in 2020."
The lifting of these restrictions could be seen in the improved production toward the end of the year.
During the fourth quarter, Red Dog produced 146,100 metric tons (322.1 million lb) of zinc, which is 11% higher than the 131,100 metric tons (288.8 million lb) produced during the same period of 2019.
Lead production also increased slightly during the fourth quarter, from 26,000 metric tons (57.3 million lb) during the third quarter of 2019 to 26,400 metric tons (58.2 million lb) during the same period of 2020.
Teck anticipates that this year's metals production at Red Dog to be similar to 2020 levels.
The company's 2021 guidance for the Northwest Alaska operation is in the range of 490,000 and 510,000 metric tons of zinc and 85,000 to 95,000 metric tons of lead.
From 2022 to 2024, zinc production is expected to be in the range of 510,000 to 550,000 metric tons per year as the mine plan enters an area of higher-grade ore, while lead production is expected to be between 80,000 and 90,000 metric tons per year.
Based on the current reserves and mine plan, the Red Dog Mine is expected to continue churning out zinc and lead until 2031.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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