Imperial Metals says it has received the necessary permits to proceed with the expansion plan for the mine.

 

The expansion   will extend the life of the mine by seven years  to 2021. It means the 230 full time and 30 contract jobs will be secure, and a further 70 new positions will be created.

Over the life of this mine expansion, the company is expected to spend approximately $254.4 million on wages and benefits (excluding contractors), $119.0 million on new acquisitions, and $82.0 million on dam construction.

Huckleberry mine produces copper, gold, silver and molybdenum.

 

Since it started in 1997 to the end of 2010, the mine has produced about  870 million pounds copper, 8 million pounds molybdenum, 105,000 ounces gold and 3.4 million ounces silver.

 

Imperial Metals had anticipated the approval of the expansion and started logging the area  known as the Main Zone Optimization area in November .