Saskatchewan mine books space on Hudson Bay Railway

A Saskatchewan mine deemed a project of national importance by Ottawa will ship its goods on the Hudson Bay Railway.

Eldorado Gold is sending nickel concentrate to Eastern Canada. To get there, it’s trucking the product to the Hudson Bay Railway’s Flin Flon stop.

The nickel concentrate is then railed to The Pas, where it’s transferred to the Canadian National Railway network.

“It’s all kicking off,” said Chris Avery, president of Hudson Bay Railway owner Arctic Gateway Group.

Prime Minister Mark Carney referred the Saskatchewan mine — the McIlvenna Bay project — to Ottawa’s Major Projects Office in September.

The mine could produce up to 4,200 tonnes daily of copper and zinc ore concentrates containing gold and silver. It’s in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, in east-central Saskatchewan.

Eldorado Gold Corp., owns the mine. It began production this month.

Eldorado didn’t make a spokesperson available Tuesday; its website says it plans to start active commercial production at McIlvenna Bay this fall.

Arctic Gateway expects to transport Eldorado’s goods around once a week, Avery said. The two companies are talking about extending the rail line closer to the Saskatchewan mine, which is roughly 100 kilometres away.

Avery is also pitching the company on using the Port of Churchill to reach new markets. A team in Ottawa’s Major Projects Office is working on a business case to expand the port.

Modernizing the Hudson Bay Railway to boost its industrial weight standards — to fully interoperate with Canada’s Class 1 rail network — is part of the discussions with the Major Projects Office, Avery said. “We believe that is needed to further grow the rail line and port.”

Meantime, the Hudson Bay Railway is being used to bring Hudbay Minerals’s zinc concentrate to the Port of Churchill. It’s being stored in facilities on-site, to be shipped this fall.

Hudbay can ship up to 20,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate this year, Avery said. Hudbay Minerals didn’t make a spokesperson available Tuesday.

It’ll be the third consecutive year of zinc concentrate moving through the port. The past two years have seen a delivery location of Antwerp, Belgium.

It’s up to Hudbay to decide where this year’s shipment lands, Avery said.

Representatives from both Hudbay and Eldorado, in a news release, called the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill important to connecting northern mines with international markets.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com