CASSIAR ASBESTOS

Operations

Ore mined totalled 1 015 134 tonnes, compared with
895 102 tonnes in 1983. The mill produced 93 526 tonnes
of fibre, some 11 000 tonnes above 1983 production.
Recoverable mine grade was 9.02 percent compared with
9.41 percent in 1983. A total of 1.9 million bank cubic
meters of waste was removed, compared with 3.2 million
bank cubic meters in the previous year, and 3.5 million
bank cubic meters in 1982.

Following a pit redesign and a new mining schedule,
waste removal requirements for the period 1985 to 1987
inclusive will average approximately 1.5 million bank
cubic meters, and will further decrease in 1988, thereby
considerably reducing expenditures on waste removal
from levels experienced during past years.

Mining was curtailed for 16 days in late January due to an
avalanche which damaged the ore tramline, and for five
weeks in July/August for a scheduled vacation shutdown.
For a portion of the two closure periods the mill operated
from stockpiled ore, which limited the mill shut-down to
31 days. The majority of the lost milling time was made up
by scheduling additional operating days during the
remainder of the year.

Site unit operating costs per tonne of fibre were reduced
by achieving cost reductions and increased productivity in
a number of areas, the principal of which were the
reduction of the workforce to approximately two-thirds the
complement of three years ago, modifications to mill
circuits to increase fibre recovery, and negotiating with
suppliers to hold or reduce costs. Although no significant

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Brinco Mining Limited

further decrease in manpower is foreseen over the next
few years, the indication is that the cost of fibre
production will be maintained at 1984 levels, and there is
a potential for further improvements in mill recovery.

A new five-year transportation contract was signed
effective January 1, 1985. The new system eliminates
the use of containers on the trucking portion of the route
and the newly designed B-train trucks carrying a larger
payload will provide substantial savings in fibre
transportation costs.

Additional Fibre Resources

A 623 meter exploratory hole was completed to test for
near-surface asbestos, and to further define the extent of
the McDame deposit. The hole intersected 237 meters of
the McDame serpentinite, with the lower 151 meters
containing asbestos similar to that of the Cassiar ore body.
On the basis of past drilling and that completed in 1984,
geological reserves of the McDame deposit are now
indicated as 62 million tonnes. A 1000 meter exploration
adit driven to the foot wall of the deposit at the 1415
meter elevation is proposed for 1985.

Elsewhere in the area, asbestos exploration was directed
toward definition of near-surface asbestos mineralization,
within economic distance of the existing mill. A
large-scale aeromagnetic survey and geological mapping
program covering the most favourable terrain for
potential asbestos bearing rock was completed during
1984, and several high priority asbestos targets which
were defined during this program will be drilled and/or
trenched in 1985.