would fully support the mine’s short term and long term
ore requirements. This re-assessment resulted in the de-
velopment of acomprehensive plan in 1974 to accomplish
the following:

(a) Increase waste removal in order to eliminate a
backlog which had accumulated over a number of years.

(b) Stabilize the footwall side of the open pit by chang-
ing its angle of slope from 47° to 37°.

(c) Design and construct a new pit access road on the
footwall side of the open pit.

(d) Expand the bench widths to permit the introduction
of larger and more efficient shovels and trucks.

(e) Establish wider and more serviceable catchments
on both the hanging wall and the footwall side of the pit in
order to provide safer working conditions.

The flattening of the overall slope of the footwall from
47° to 37° is proceeding on schedule. This project will pro-
vide for a new access road and overcome possible safety
hazards which might arise from unstable rock conditions
encountered in this area. The work is being done under
contract and will eventually total 10,000,000 tons. The
cost will be written off against the remaining 21,000,000
tons of ore.

On the hanging wall adequate safety catchments have
been re-established and ore mining is currently underway
in the pit bottom. A new waste phase with wider operating
benches has been started. The overall hanging wall slope
will be reduced from 45° to approximately 40° and will
involve an accelerated rate of waste removal during 1976
and 1977.

Waste mining costs have not yet been reduced to antici-

pated levels due to confined operating conditions and
problems with equipment maintenance and availability.
The cost of removing 12,151,953 tons of waste during
1975 was $16,482,253. The rate of amortization which
was $5.00 per ton of ore mined in 1974, was increased to
$7.50 per ton, as reported in the June 30 interim state-
ment. This increase has proven to be inadequate and
waste costs have been charged to operations for 1975 ata
rate of $9.00 per ton of ore mined. This rate is determined
by dividing the estimated total cost of waste removed by
the total tons of ore that are made available. The amount
charged to operations during the year was $8,412,786.

Environment

During 1974, your Company formulated a comprehen-
sive plan to reduce the dust counts in the Cassiar mill. This
plan includes the up-grading of the existing 500,000 cubic
feet per minute bag house, plus the installation of a system
to provide an additional 480,000 cubic feet of air per
minute scheduled to be on stream in 1977. A central
vacuum system, together with the enclosure of all dust
producing equipment, will aid in keeping working areas
clean, which in turn will assist in keeping airborme fibre and
dust levels down.

In the mine crushing plant, an improved dust collection
and vacuum cleaning system is being installed.

To prevent the carrying of fibre into the community by
people, a new change house and laundry will be con-
structed. After its completion, employees will be required
to change from work clothes to non-working clothes be-
fore leaving the facility to enter the community.

In March 1975, the Company was advised by the Mines
Inspection Branch that the long established asbestos dust
standard of 5 million particles per cubic foot had been
changed to the far more stringent standard of 5 fibres per
cubic centimeter. Unfortunately, the introduction of these
new standards did not provide any time allowance for
implementation. Hence the Mine at Cassiar had insuffi-
cient time to comply and the conditions of cleanliness in
the concentrator and refinery were found to be at an
unsatisfactory level. As a result, it became necessary to
stop operations for a three week period in March 1975 to
improve the standard of cleanliness. Employees are re-
quired to wear respirators in the areas where dust and fibre
counts are in excess of the standard limit.

The new Cassiar tailings agglomeration system in the
refinery is operating well except during the very cold
months. It is hoped that the insulated cover over the new
tailings belt currently being installed will permit year round
operation of the agglomeration system.