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Red Dog Mine

Property Details


Interpreted mineral system (using mineral system classification of Hofstra and Kreiner, 2020*)

Activity by Year


Year Activity Status Operator Project Name Description
2015 Development Mine Teck Alaska Inc. Red Dog Mine is one of the world?s largest zinc mines, both in terms of resources and annual zinc production. Highlights for 2015 at Red Dog include initiation of a geosynthetic/composite pilot test of a conceptual design plan for covering the entire main waste stockpile surface, and drilling 20 holes, totaling approximately 9,547 feet, in the Aqqaluk pit: 12 holes (4,216 feet) for geotechnical purposes and eight (5,331 feet) for resource infill and confirmation. In 2015 Red Dog mined 3.89 million tons of ore, milled 4.44 million tons of ore, and produced 625,004 tons of zinc concentrate and 129,630 tons of lead concentrate. Annual average prices in 2015 for zinc were $0.88 per pound. In 2015 Red Dog provided more than 630 full-time-equivalent jobs.
2015 Production Mine Teck Alaska Inc. Red Dog Mine is one of the world?s largest zinc mines, both in terms of resources and annual zinc production. Highlights for 2015 at Red Dog include initiation of a geosynthetic/composite pilot test of a conceptual design plan for covering the entire main waste stockpile surface, and drilling 20 holes, totaling approximately 9,547 feet, in the Aqqaluk pit: 12 holes (4,216 feet) for geotechnical purposes and eight (5,331 feet) for resource infill and confirmation. In 2015 Red Dog mined 3.89 million tons of ore, milled 4.44 million tons of ore, and produced 625,004 tons of zinc concentrate and 129,630 tons of lead concentrate. Annual average prices in 2015 for zinc were $0.88 per pound. In 2015 Red Dog provided more than 630 full-time-equivalent jobs.
2016 Development Mine Teck Alaska Inc. In 2016 Teck Alaska mined from the Aqqaluk deposit portion of their Red Dog deposit. In 2016 Teck Alaska employed 600 staff (including contractors), mined 15,106,000 tons of material, and milled 4,684,823 tons. In 2016 Teck began development of its Qanaiyaq deposit, a near-surface deposit located immediately south of the mined-out Red Dog Main pit.
2016 Production Mine Teck Alaska Inc. In 2016 Teck Alaska mined from the Aqqaluk deposit portion of their Red Dog deposit. In 2016 Teck Alaska employed 600 staff (including contractors), mined 15,106,000 tons of material, and milled 4,684,823 tons. In 2016 Teck began development of its Qanaiyaq deposit, a near-surface deposit located immediately south of the mined-out Red Dog Main pit.
2017 Development Mine Teck Alaska Inc. To be more selective of what materials are brought from the mine to the mill, Teck experimented with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) sensors mounted on the buckets of loaders, which will enable material sorting on a bucket-by-bucket basis. Teck Alaska also worked on optimizing flotation at Red Dog.
2017 Production Mine Teck Alaska Inc. To be more selective of what materials are brought from the mine to the mill, Teck experimented with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) sensors mounted on the buckets of loaders, which will enable material sorting on a bucket-by-bucket basis. Teck Alaska also worked on optimizing flotation at Red Dog.
2018 Development Mine Teck Alaska Inc. Sustaining capital investments were $65 million at Red Dog operations. Work continued on the $110 million mill upgrade project, which is progressing as planned. Construction started in late 2017 with planned start-up in the first quarter of 2020. The upgrade is expected to increase average mill throughput by about 15 percent over the remaining mine life, helping to offset lower grades and harder ore. Because the upgrade project will permit lower grade material to be processed, the current mine life, which is based on existing developed deposits, will remain unchanged through 2031.
2018 Production Mine Teck Alaska Inc. In 2018 Red Dog zinc production increased to 642,868 tons compared to 597,342 tons in 2017; primarily due to higher zinc grades and recoveries (table 15). The zinc grade was 15.7 percent, with an 83.9 percent recovery rate. Lead production in 2018 declined to 108,467 tons, compared to 122,687 tons in 2017; primarily due to lower grades and recoveries. The lead grade was 4.4 percent with a 50.2 percent recovery rate. In 2018 Teck Alaska employed approximately 700 full-time staff (including contractors), mined 12,642,400 tons of material, milled 4,882,100 tons of material, and sold 1.149 billion pounds of zinc and 209.66 million pounds of lead.
2019 Development Mine Teck Alaska Inc. Development occurred in 2019.
2019 Production Mine Teck Alaska Inc. Production occurred in 2019.

Production Stats


Year Total Rock Mined (short tons) Waste Rock (short tons) Ore Mined (short tons) Ore Milled (short tons) Heap Leach Ore (short tons) Total Concentrate Produced (short tons) Pb Ore Grade % Pb Recovered (short tons) Zn Ore Grade % Zn Recovered (short tons) Au Head/Ore Grade (OPT) Au Recovered (troy ounces) Au Recovery % Ag Ore Grade (OPT) Ag Recovered (million troy ounces) Coal (short tons) Other Other Amount Other Units
2014 4739302 1409511 4.4 135032 16.6 656971 7.56
2015 4437950 1351221 2.9 129630 14.1 625004 6.7
2016 4684823 1411029 4.9 134813 17.1 642647 7.34
2017 4706864 1322302 5.0 122687 15.5 597342 7.7
2018 4882100 1371264 4.4 108467 15.7 642868 7.0

Resources


Source Year Description Property Phase Category Resource (short tons) Cu % Cu (thousand pounds) Pb % Pb (thousand pounds) Zn % Zn (thousand pounds) Au (OPT) Au (thousand oz) Ag (OPT) Ag (thousand oz) Mo % Mo (thousand pounds) Co % Co (thousand pounds) Barite % Barite (thousand pounds) TREO % TREO (thousand pounds) Graphite % Graphite (thousand pounds)
Reserves and resouces as of December 31, 2019. https://www.teck.com/investors/reserves-&-resources, accessed on August 31, 2020 2020 Production (Aqqaluk, Qanaiyaq) Probable 5.6107E7 3.6 2028250 12.9 11838809 1.98 69430.0
Reserves and resouces as of December 31, 2019. https://www.teck.com/investors/reserves-&-resources, accessed on August 31, 2020 2020 Production (Aqqaluk, Qanaiyaq) Indicated 7275000.0 3.0 436500 9.0 1309500 1.6206 11789.865
Reserves and resouces as of December 31, 2019. https://www.teck.com/investors/reserves-&-resources, accessed on August 31, 2020 2020 Production (Aqqaluk, Qanaiyaq) Inferred 1.2015E7 6.0 1441800 11.1 2667330 3.26748 39258.7722
Reserves and resouces as of December 31, 2019. https://www.teck.com/investors/reserves-&-resources, accessed on August 31, 2020 2020 Total 7.5397E7 3.924562 3906550 12.23685 15815639 2.15049 120478.6372

* Hofstra, A.H., and Kreiner, D.C., 2020, Systems-Deposits-Commodities-Critical Minerals Table for the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2020-1042, 24 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20201042