Buchans mine

Buchans Minerals isn’t operating as a mine at the moment but there’s probably not a site anywhere in the province with more character than the historic Buchans property, located in south western Newfoundland about 200 km by road from Corner Brook.

Almost every miner in Newfoundland has some connection with, or memory of, the mine and although it has been closed since 1984, it had an outstanding  58-year run during which time it produced 16.2 million tonnes of ore from five ore bodies, averaging 14.51% zinc, 1.33% copper, 7.56% lead, and 1.26 g/t silver and 1.37 g/t gold. It was one of the highest grade base metal mining camps in Canadian history.

Today, the mine site is a far cry from the glory days when thousands of miners put it, and the Town of Buchans, on the map. About 750 people still live there and if Minco and Buchans Minerals’ plans work out, it could once again be a thriving community filled with miners going after the remaining minerals in the Lundberg Deposit at the Buchans site.

With a NI 43-101 in hand, Buchans Minerals has an open-pit mining plan with a mine life expectancy of 10 years. The average yearly production is estimated to be 27.1 million pounds of zinc 16.3 million pounds of lead, 5.5 million pounds of copper and some 479,000 ounces of silver.

In addition to these inferred resources, the Buchans’ site offers a strong infrastructure through the town’s water resources and a 70 km paved road connecting with the TransCanada Highway.