The proposed lead-zinc mine at Pine Point is moving along as planned, according to the company behind the new project.

Town council received an update during its council meeting on Oct. 30 from Andrew Williams, the environmental manager for Pine Point Mining Limited (PPML). PPML is a joint venture between Osisko Metals and Appian Natural Resources Fund. Appian announced it had purchased a 60 per cent stake in the project for $100 million over four years this past February.

Williams鈥� presentation to council indicated that the mine鈥檚 life is expected to be 12 years with construction scheduled to begin in late spring of 2028. Operations are expected to begin one year later and is set to last until 2040.

The company is also committing to closure monitoring for at least 10 years following the mine鈥檚 shutdown.

But nothing will be able to happen until a developers鈥� assessment report is submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, which Williams said should be ready by either March or April 2025.

Osisko Metals submitted an environmental assessment package to the review board in February 2021.

Williams said the mine is expected to have 47 new open pits and between one to five underground mines; the underground mines are on the west side of the Buffalo River.

鈥淲e鈥檙e grouping the proposed pits, or new mines, into what we鈥檙e calling clusters,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat enables to optimize how we go about dewatering them because there鈥檚 a lot of ground water we have to manage.鈥�

The presentation stated that the mill locations will likely be in the area of the old plant site, but Williams said that鈥檚 still being reviewed.

When minerals are extracted, Williams said they will be trucked to Hay River from the mine site and then sent down south to a smelting facility by train.

During the comment and question period, Coun. Robert Bouchard asked about the power requirements at different levels of the project.

鈥淥bviously, we use the hydro from Fort Smith and you guys would do the same, I鈥檓 assuming,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if you would take up all the surplus (power).鈥�

Williams said the project would take as much surplus that the NWT Power Corporation would allow them to have.

鈥淭hey would take into consideration factors like surge requirements etc. on the system, as well as emergency issues if one of their other facilities were to suffer some sort of stoppage,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e would like to use as much hydro power as we could.鈥�

Williams noted that the Taltson plant wouldn鈥檛 be able to provide all the needed power, which he said could require the installation of liquid natural gas generators to supplement the power usage.

When asked by Bouchard about the amount of local and 快盈v3 companies being part of the project, Williams said there will be some large-scale procurement during the construction phase.

鈥淭here would obviously be guidelines that would direct as much as possible to 快盈v3-based companies,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l also be entering into a socio-economic agreement with the GNWT and that will have similar requirements.鈥�

With regards to the mine life, Coun. Linda Dufour asked whether the end date of 2040 was because of agreements with various environmental agencies or when the company expects minerals to run out.

鈥淚t鈥檚 primarily based on when we expect the minerals to be mined out,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淲e鈥檒l continue to do exploration throughout the project and if we discover additional mineral deposits 鈥� we鈥檙e currently exploring a couple of different areas 鈥� they will add to the life of the mine at the end of the day.鈥�

Glenn Smith, the town鈥檚 senior administrative officer, asked Williams if there was anything the town should be doing to better support the mine.

Williams said it鈥檚 a bit early to talk about that because the feasibility study hasn鈥檛 yet been completed, but one thing the company wants to do is hire locally where it can.

鈥淲e need to look at training programs to prepare folks in the region for working in a mine,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are lots of different types of jobs available: equipment operators to site maintenance, which includes electricians, plumbers and so on.鈥�

He also said accounting and administrative services would be required as well.

According to Osisko, the mine is estimating that 329 million lbs. of zinc and 141 million lbs. of lead could be produced during the life of the mine with $5.6 billion in gross revenue after royalties possible.