Foran Mining is continuing work to expand its operations at the McIlvenna Bay mine site near Hanson Lake. The company is launching new surveys, putting up new buildings at the site and preparing to build a producing mine.
The project is not producing material yet, but it appears well on its way to being the region’s first major mine since Hudbay closed down its 777 mine and much of its local operations in 2022.
At the project site, work is now moving ahead on several important pieces for mine operation - a processing plant is under construction, as is a truck shop and a contact water pond. Foundations have been poured for a ball mill and a semi-autogenous (SAG) mill, while a sewage treatment and water plant have been built and are waiting for permits to being operating.
A laydown area for construction will soon see larger construction materials being brought to the site, with structural steel and equipment for the processing plant coming later this month. The company is still building a collar sink for the fresh air raise and installing a main ventilation fan for underground work. New electric mine vehicles from Sandvik, which the company ordered long ago as part of a plan to make McIlvenna Bay the world’s first carbon neutral zinc and copper mine, have arrived and are now operating.
“Foran remains committed to the safe and timely development of McIlvenna Bay,” reads an update from the company announced Sept. 23.
Along with the construction on the site, the company announced updates to its regional exploration strategy last month, including an expanded summer and fall drill program that will put over 8,000 metres of drill into the ground for testing.
The company also has received permits to conduct electromagnetic surveys around what it calls its Denare West property, with the goal to expand its mineral holdings in the area and perhaps, if the stars align right, finding more mineable deposits. The property, a new area of exploration for the company, is located roughly between McIlvenna Bay and Amisk Lake, covering about 300 square kilometres according to the company’s own size estimation.
That will go along with existing drilling and surveying at other Foran sites near McIlvenna Bay, such as its Bigstone property, the Tesla zone and the recently inferred Bacchus prospect.
In the past, Foran representatives estimated that the total price tag to start a mine at McIlvenna Bay would be around $850 million, between initial and sustaining capital costs. The company raised millions through a series of placement offerings over the summer, which will help fund the mine site work and the exploration campaign.
According to a formal plan issued earlier this summer by Foran, the company will move ahead in phases, starting with phase one, which will include an estimated $600 million to get the company to start partial production as early as late 2025. That will include building an on-site process plant to the tune of $126 million, as well as spending $114 million on underground development and equipment, $105 million on infrastructure in the area and $112 million in project indirects.
Commercial production levels are estimated to start in early 2026, according to the company’s current plans.
