this is from the timmins daily press.
Liberty Mines to reopen mine and mill in Timmins
Official hopeful McWatters Mine will open in August
Posted By Brandon Walker, the Daily Press
Updated 12 hours ago
The nickel market has improved enough for Liberty Mines Inc. to reopen some of its Timmins operations starting in August.
Gary Nash, the company’s president and CEO, said with the strike at Vale Inco in Sudbury and the closure of 40 other mines, the price of nickel is back to a point where they can resume work at their mill and McWatters mine.
The Vale Inco strike is into its second week, and the union has told miners to expect a long walkout.
Nash said nickel has a lot of up-and-coming potential, and calls it the metal of the future.
He said, for instance, nickel is used in the batteries of hybrid cars, cellphones and nuclear power plants.
For now, the company is opening only one of two mines it closed last October, creating 24 mining jobs and another 25 to 30 for the mill.
“We’re definitely hoping to get McWatters open for the life of the mine,” he said from Toronto.
Nash said Liberty officials will get McWatters up and running and watch nickel prices before even thinking about reopening their Redstone Mine.
“We have 90,000 tonnes of ore waiting to be pulled out,” Nash said. “We’re looking at different mine methods, and we’ll just play our cards right and see how that develops.
“We’ll get there eventually.”
With files from the Canadian Press
