User:Turgan/Thompson Mine

Thompson Mine

Thompson Mine is located adjacent to the city of Thompson, Manitoba. The Thompson ore body is within the Thompson Nickel Belt and is hosted in two main types of mineral deposits: metasedimentary hosted and ultramafic associated. The Thompson ore body was discovered in 1956 and the T-1 Shaft was developed in 1957, with production starting in 1959. The mine has operated continuously since 1959 and to date, Thompson Mine has mined more than 80 million tons of ore for a total of 4.3 billion pounds of Nickel.

The T-1 Shaft was deepened to its present depth of 4,423 feet in 1967 and hoists all Thompson Mine ore and waste. The mine first utilized labour-intensive cut-and-fill mining methods and in the mid-1980s, converted to vertical block mining. Presently, T-1 Mine production is from five complexes that use vertical block mining in primary areas and several remnant recovery mining methods. T-1 Mine manpower averages 247 people, covering a 24/7 schedule.

Vale Manitoba Operations and United Steelworkers Local 6166 initiated the Safe Production risk management system to achieve “Zero Harm” by reducing risk to “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA). Through the proactive practices of the SafeProduction principles, the team has collectively been able to reduce the accident frequency at the mine in recent years. The team continues to build on lowering and mitigating the severity of incidents at T-1 Mine.