Cassiar Aspestos Corporation LiMiTED ee a a ey ee See re, eee

successfully. The research work to date has been encouraging and an investigation of the commercial possibilities of our findings has started.

MINE

During 1963 the mine produced 756,574 tons of ore, of which 597,202 tons were treated in the rock rejection circuit to eliminate 219,825 tons of rock. The resulting

377,377 tons of concentrate and 159,372 tons of ore, a total of 536,749 tons of mill feed were delivered to the mill by the tramline.

Stripping operations removed from the pit and peak 2,824,197 tons of waste rock at a cost of $2,442,363. Stripping costs are being amortized and are currently being written off at a cost of $1.68 per ton of ore mined.

Ore reserves remain substantially unchanged, with sufficient ore indicated within the presently planned pit limits for 29 years production at the present rate.

The installation of the new crushing plant at the mine was completed early in December. The 42” x 48” deep frame crusher is capable of handling larger pieces of rock than the old crusher and has overcome many of the problems encountered when crushing frozen ore during the winter months. As a result, lower crushing costs are anticipated.

A 4¥% yard electric shovel was purchased and delivered in November and is expected to be in operation early in March. It will provide the additional capacity now required by the stripping programme, and will reduce the loading costs.

It is worthy of note that the tons of ore mined, the tons delivered by the tramline, and the tons of waste stripped are records for any year in the history of the mine.

The exploration programme in the Cirque Valley, started in 1961, was completed by an additional 3,700 feet of diamond drilling. The drilling established the northern boundary of the orebody previously indicated in the 5700’ level adit. Except for certain sections overlain by mineable talus ore, the Cirque Valley will now be available for waste disposal and will considerably reduce the haulage distance for waste from the north end of the orebody.

MILLING

The mill treated a record 588,733 tons of mine ore and concentrate, for an average of 1,610 tons per calendar day. The high standard of Cassiar products was maintained. The quality of the AX fibre was improved and the price adjusted accordingly. The existing market for cement grade fibres will make it profitable to produce, from current tailings, an additional grade somewhat shorter than the AX fibre. Bulk mill tests indicate that 10,000 to 15,000 tons of fibre to be known as Cassiar AY can be recovered annually. The necessary additions to the mill to produce the new grade will be completed in the fall of 1964. A high quality asbestos cement fibre, Cassiar AD, introduced early in 1964, is a re-classification within our existing grades to meet market requirements and does not represent additional fibre recovery.

Pace Four

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