North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

NorZinc Ltd. April 20 announced the completion of a 170-kilometer (about 105 miles) pioneer winter road to the Prairie Creek Mine, which serves as the first phase of an all-season access road to the zinc mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.

Prairie Creek is the site of a historical zinc-silver mine that was developed in the 1970s and 1980s but was never ramped up to full production due to a collapse in the price of silver that supported the economics of the project.

NorZinc (then San Andreas Resources Corp.) acquired full ownership of Prairie Creek in 1993 and has been advancing exploration and predevelopment activities at the underground zinc mine project ever since.

In 2009, Canada's Nahanni National Park Reserve was expanded to encompass Prairie Creek. At the time of the park expansion, however, the federal government provided NorZinc (then Canadian Zinc Corp.) with assurance that it would be granted surface access to the zinc project, pending permit approvals for the road.

In November, Parks Canada granted the final approval necessary for the first phase of an all-season road to connect the zinc-silver mine project to Liard Highway 7.

NorZinc has also entered into benefits and environmental agreements with the First Nations groups near the mine and along the proposed access road.

Five months after receiving approvals, NorZinc announced the completion of a pioneer winter trail that serves as the first phase of a five-meter- (16 feet) wide single lane, all-season road that will allow for the transport of supplies to the mine and, more importantly, zinc concentrates from the mine to global markets.

"Completion of Phase 1 of the ASR (all-season road) marks a significant milestone for the company, not only in providing seasonal land access to the Prairie Creek Mine, but it also demonstrates the hard work and investment we have made to the project, our team and the community," said NorZinc President and CEO Rohan Hazelton. "The company is grateful for the support provided by its First Nations partners, especially Naha Dehe Dene Band and Liidlii Kue First Nation, whose ongoing assistance in working with key stakeholders, as well as direct and indirect participation in the project as employees, contractors, and vendors, has been integral to the completion of this venture."

NorZinc Ltd.

The winter road, now blazed along the all-season road alignment, allows for ground penetrating radar, test pitting, and bore hole drilling that will provide geotechnical and permafrost data ahead of building the year-round road.

As crews gather more detailed information along the newly established winter road, NorZinc is working with territorial and federal regulatory authorities to gain approval for phase-two construction, which will provide year-round access to a mine at Prairie Creek that is expected to produce an average of 122 million pounds of zinc, 101 million lb of lead, and 2.55 million ounces of silver annually over an initial 20 years of operation.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

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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