Canadian Zinc Corp. has selected Tetra Tech for engineering and procurement services at the company’s Prairie Creek zinc/lead/silver mine project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Prairie Creek is an underground operation that will use multiple mining methods. Canadian Zinc said most project infrastructure is already in place, including a 1,000-metric-tons-per-day (mt/d) mill, 5 km of underground workings and related equipment, surface fleet, three exploration diamond drills, and a 1,000-m airstrip.
Tetra Tech will provide services for the development of major equipment packages, facility rehabilitation and repair work, and capital items for the Prairie Creek mine. Specifically, Tetra Tech’s technical services will be applied to develop tender packages for mine rehabilitation and development; mill completion, power generation and distribution; heat recovery systems; a dense media separation plant; a paste fill plant; a water treatment plant; instrumentation and control systems; and camp construction, winter road construction, and maintenance.
Canadian Zinc said tender packages for competitive bidding will be issued in the first and second quarters of 2014. The tendering and procurement process will be managed by Tetra Tech, and will augment design work completed previously and generate definitive estimates of the capital cost and schedules required to place the mine into operation.
Canadian Zinc has also engaged AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) to undertake an optimization study of the underground mine plan with a view to reducing initial development, shortening the development schedule, and optimizing mine operating costs.
Canadian Zinc said engagement of Tetra Tech and AMC followed receipt of the project’s water license and all permits needed to operate the mine, and marks the start of engineering and procurement to complete construction and development.
The Prairie Creek property contains a mineral reserve of 5.2 million mt averaging 9.4% zinc, 9.5% lead and 151 g/t silver. In addition, it hosts an inferred resource of 6.2 million mt averaging 14.5% zinc, 11.5% lead, 0.57% copper and 229 g/t silver.
