Montreal-based Cambior (CBJ-T) has suspended zinc production at its Gonzague-Langlois mine, near Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Que.
The temporary closure is attributed both to weak zinc prices and the need to modify the mining method in certain parts of the deposit.
Cambior will lay off about 100 employees at Gonzague-Langlois. The company expects to restart the mine in the second quarter of 1997, provided market conditions are favorable.
Proven and probable reserves at the mine are 11 million tonnes grading 8.41% zinc and 0.46% copper, as well as 37 grams silver and 0.1 gram gold per tonne.
On an annual basis, the mine is expected to produce 62,000 tonnes zinc, 3,000 tonnes copper, 313,000 oz. silver and 700 oz. gold from 910,000 tonnes of ore. Current reserves provide for a mine life of at least 12 years.
Meanwhile, Cambior has completed a 10-hole drill program at the Plata property in central Ecuador.
The company can earn a 51% interest in the project from Zappa Resources (ZPA-V) by spending US$2 million by December 1998.
One of the holes intersected 10 metres of massive sulphides grading 5.1% zinc and 1% copper, plus 4.2 grams gold and 68 grams silver per ton, at a depth of 250 metres. The hole was drilled south of the past-producing Plata mine.
A stepout hole, 50 metres to the south, hit a 9-metre interval of similar massive sulphides. Grades are pending.
The remaining eight holes tested various geophysical and geochemical anomalies along a 4-km strike length but intersected only disseminated sulphides with anomalous gold and base metal values.
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