Raglan Mine is a large

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

mining complex in the Nunavik region of northern

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located approximately south of Deception Bay. Discovery of the deposits is credited to Murray Edmund Watts in 1931 or 1932. It is owned and operated by Glencore Canada Corporation. The mine site is located in sub-arctic

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

of the

Cape Smith Belt The Cape Smith Belt is an early Proterozoic thrust belt in northern Quebec, Canada. References

Geology of Quebec {{Canada-geology-stub ...

, with an average underground temperature of .

Transportation and accommodations

The complex is served by and operates the

Kattiniq/Donaldson Airport Katinniq/Donaldson Airport is located east of Raglan Mine, Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is ...

, which is west of the principal mine site. There is a gravel road leading from the mine site to the seaport on Deception Bay. It is the only road of any distance in the province north of the 55th parallel. As the complex is remote from even the region's

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

communities, workers must lodge at the mine site, typically for weeks at a time. From the mine site employees are flown to Val D'or, or in the case of Inuit employees, their home community. Ore produced from the mine is milled on-site then trucked to Deception Bay. From Deception Bay the concentrate is sent via cargo ship during the short shipping season (even by

ice breaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

it is only accessible 8 months of the year) to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, and then via rail to be smelted at Glencore's facilities in

Falconbridge, Ontario Nickel Centre (1996 census population 13,017) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolve ...

. Following smelting in Ontario, the concentrate is sent back to Quebec City via rail, loaded onto a ship and sent to the Glencore Nikkelverk in Kristiansand, Norway to be refined.

Historical airline service

In 1979,

Nordair Nordair was a Quebec-based airline in Canada founded in 1947 from the merger of Boreal Airways and Mont Laurier Aviation. History The airline operated from the 1940s to the 1980s. Initially, most of its business was international and transatla ...

was operating scheduled

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

passenger jet service to the area with direct one stop flights twice a week from

Montreal Dorval Airport Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

Inuit relations

In February 1995

Falconbridge Ltd. Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and plati ...

signed an Impact and Benefits Agreement (IBA) called the " Raglan Agreement (1995)" with the local Inuit community. Originally the complex was created with the participation of the Inuit owned

Makivik Corporation Makivik Corporation ( iu, ᒪᑭᕝᕕᒃ ᑯᐊᐳᕇᓴᑦ, script=, ; french: Société Makivik) is the legal representative of Quebec's Inuit, established in 1978 under the terms of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the agreement t ...

, with the hopes of attracting employment for local residents. Glencore is working with the Kativik Regional Government and the Kativik School Board to educate the local Inuit population so they will be able to work at the mine, with a goal of the workforce being made up of 20% or more Inuit. Currently the mines' Inuit work force is close to 17% with most of the remainder being

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

from southern Quebec. Given the cultural mix at the complex, ethnic origin and discrimination are significant on-site issues.

Safety

Raglan mine has won the national

John T. Ryan Trophy John T. Ryan Trophies are awards of excellence presented by Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) to a mine in a given category which experiences the lowest accident frequency during the previous year in all of Canada. Thre ...

in 2002, for having the lowest accident frequency of all metal mines in Canada. In 2007 it was awarded the F.J. O'Connell award by the Mining Association of Quebec for recording the most improvement of mine safety in Quebec.

Production

The mine was originally designed to produce 130,000 tons per year of

ore concentrate Ore concentrate, dressed ore or simply concentrate is the product generally produced by metal ore mines. The raw ore is usually ground finely in various comminution operations and gangue (waste) is removed, thus concentrating the metal component. ...

, containing 21,000 tons of

, 5,000 tons of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

, 200 tons of

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

, and a small amount of

precious metals Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

. Raglan currently produces 1.1 million tonnes of ore annually from three underground mines and two open pit operations. The original Impact and Benefits Agreement limits production to 1.3 million tonnes of ore per year, which is expected to be met by the end of 2008. Glencore is currently looking to increase production at the site to 2.0 million tonnes per year by 2013, this would require renegotiating the IBA. The local communities are open to the idea as it will benefit them both in profit sharing and increased direct employment. The expansion will require adding 210 rooms to the current employee accommodations to house the estimated 100 additional employees that will be added.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mines in Quebec Nickel mines in Canada Underground mines in Canada Surface mines in Canada Xstrata Copper mines in Canada Cobalt mines in Canada