CanTung shutdown at month's end
Mine closure indefinite while operator awaits sale
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 15, 2015
TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE
North American Tungsten Company Ltd. is preparing to close the CanTung Mine for the winter as markets remain slow.
North American Tungsten's remote Cantung Mine site located just inside the NWT border is shutting down. A monitoring company has been appointed to track waste water while it is closed. - photo courtesy of North American Tungsten
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Commercial operations of concentrate production will stop on Oct. 27, with a mine care and maintenance plan set to begin at the end of November.
Despite the closure being labelled as short-term, North American Tungsten has no specific re-opening date and has not closed the door to the possibility of keeping the mine closed indefinitely if tungsten prices do not pick up in the summer. However, according to the care and maintenance plan, start-up planning is expected to continue during the winter.
Deborah Flemming, environmental superintendent for North American Tungsten, said the mine has shut down before due to low market pricing for tungsten. The company worked off information from those previous shutdowns to develop its current maintenance plan.
"Oct. 27 is the last day we will produce a product, and then it will take another month to clean up and shut everything down properly so nothing is damaged. It's similar to winterizing a building you plan to leave, except this is a whole mine site," Flemming said.
Once the care and maintenance plan begins the mine site will have limited personnel on site for maintenance and environmental monitoring.
The plan notes all staff and contractors are being laid off during the closure dates. Meanwhile, North American Tungsten plans to keep a 24-person crew on at the mine site, split into two 12-person crews.
Crews will continue to inspect the mine's facilities regularly and will continue to submit annual reports and monthly reports to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.
Water quality from underground will be monitored weekly. Mine water will be pumped to a tailings pond for treatment before being discharged through the site's waste water treatment facility.
The company is also awaiting information about its imminent sale, which was scheduled to go to court Oct. 14, just after press time.
North American Tungsten has been under creditor protection since June and has been looking to restructure under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Alvarez and Marsal Canada Inc. has been appointed the monitor for the company's business and financial affairs.
According to a list of creditors provided by Alvarez and Marsal, North American Tungsten owes 237 creditors across Canada and the United States a total of $79.5 million.
In July, Alvarez and Marsal produced a document requesting offers of purchase or investment for North American Tungsten.
That document states North American Tungsten's mining assets include CanTung Mine and the Mactung deposit 160 kilometres northwest of CanTung.
The bid deadline was Sept. 30.
Flemming said North American Tungsten is waiting to hear what comes from the Oct. 14 court date, at which point bidders will go to court and the buyer will be determined.
"Those of us at site are waiting to understand what's going to happen going forward, how that will work and what the implications are," she said.
