Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Arctic Bay (Aug 22/05) - Higher fuel costs and difficulties finding enough fill are playing havoc with the budget of the Nanisivik Mine clean-up.

The underground zinc-lead mine, owned by CanZinco - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Breakwater Resources - was operational from 1976-2002. It is now in its second year of a three-year reclamation project.

With at least 2.25 million litres of fuel delivered by tanker this spring, the price increase to $1.12 from 80 cents/litre had a significant impact on the total cost, said Butch Vendetti, owner of Vendetti Construction. On-site fuel is needed for power generation, heating and operating equipment.

"The price increase doesn't please a lot of people," he said.

Vendetti is contracted by Wolfden Resources to remove surface buildings and ready some of the material for transport to Wolfden's High Lake site in the Kitikmeot region. Wolfden is responsible for the clean-up of the industrial complex in exchange for some of the equipment, including the processing mill and concentrate storage shed.

This year Vendetti employs 25 people, including 15 from Arctic Bay. They will work year-round, completing indoor work during the coldest winter months.

CanZinco employs another 10 people from Arctic Bay who previously worked at the mine, to help with the clean-up.

CanZinco Ltd. is working with Atcon Construction Ltd. to move large quantities of contaminated and clean soil and rock.

The operating mine moved three thousand tonnes of material per day. With Atcon's equipment, 20-30 thousand tonnes of material is being moved, said Bob Carreau, vice-president of CanZinco.

Shale and coarse sand/gravel layers are needed to cover the tailings and landfill. The contaminates will remain frozen under the thick geothermal layer.

Rocks are needed to backfill the open-pits as well.

A number of additional quarries above what was included in the original proposal were needed due to the large quantities of cover material.

"There is only so much inventory at each site so we had to choose some alternatives that were further afield," said Carreau.

This increases time requirements to travel further for the rocks, as well as fuel use.

And as with many reclamation projects, the amount of contaminated soil is generally more than originally calculated, he said.

"We can only base our estimates on the surface area," he said.

"Once we start excavating into the lower profiles, we can start to see what is actually there."

These complications notwithstanding, the project is on schedule to be completed in 2006

As of March, almost $5.5 million of the $9.66 million budget was spent.

The project will be "close to budget" upon completion next year, he said.