Teck Duck Pond

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The Teck Duck Pond copper and zinc mine site achieved commercial production in 2007.

“I have always had a great deal of respect for Teck and when the opportunity arose for a General Manager, I was immediately interested” Teck Duck Pond’s General Manager Bob Kelly says.

“We (Teck Duck Pond) are part of what is called the copper business unit. There are zinc, gold, coal and energy business units as well.

Kelly, a geoscientist by background, has over 30 years experience in the industry but points out that his “experience was primarily open-pit but I think as long as you have the right people who know what they’re doing, it’s a team approach at the end of the day.”

The teamwork factor is something Kelly clearly values highly.

“The copper unit is primarily open pit mines and Duck Pond is a small underground copper and zinc mine. There’s a lot of different expertise within this business unit” he says.

“The Duck Pond team is a very experienced team with strong backgrounds in underground mining from various mines around the world.”

After Teck’s acquisition of Aur Resources in 2007, the Duck Pond Operations became 100% owned by the company.

“I think it was a good move for Teck in improving its copper reserves” Kelly says.

The Duck Pond details

“We’re an underground operation so we’re using long hole, bench and drift and fill mining methods. The ramp is driven at about 15% in the footwall of the deposit. Like most operations we bring crude ore or uncrushed material to the surface and stockpile it.  It is then crushed and fed through the mill where it is ground using SAG and ball mills and then passed through flotation circuits to separate and upgrade the copper and the zinc” Kelly explains.

“Our grades are approximately 3% copper and 4.5-5% zinc. We move about 1,800 tonnes a day of material from the mine. So this year we’ll make approximately 73,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and about 45 tonnes of zinc concentrate. We make two types of concentrates so product quality is quite important.”
Teck Duck Pond continues to develop and improve operations

“One milestone this year which we’re particularly proud of is reaching the 42 level in the mine.   Our development will now focus on the lower levels of the mine and that will provide us more ore sources to produce from as mining plans are developed going forward” Kelly says. And this is not the only buzz going on at the Duck Pond this year.

Rising to the challenge

“We make a 20-22% copper concentrate and 51-52% zinc concentrate and there are several initiatives in place this year to improve product quality. We’re actually making a higher grade copper concentrate. The mill is currently performing test work and we expect to improve on those grades over the next few months” Kelly says.

"In terms of technical issues we have had high levels of lead in our concentrate that is removed by cleaning it through a lead circuit.  This allows us to produce a higher quality product that meets customer specifications.”

But that has proved to be nothing more than a challenge to rise to for the team.

“The lead circuit itself has presented some challenges and the team has found creative solutions to overcome them.    By cleaning the lead from the concentrate we’ve been able to realize significant penalty savings.  We’ve been able to implement a low-cost circuit and a low-cost water treatment process that have proven to be very efficient and cost effective” Kelly says.

“Instead of spending $2-3 million dollars a year on a sophisticated water treatment plant, we used existing equipment and redesigned some of the piping in the circuits to treat the water internally within the milling circuits.  To date it has proven to be quite successful. We’re six months into that now and a high level of capital has been saved as a result. Lead penalties have been almost eliminated and further improvements are anticipated going forward.”

This has been another “boost” for the Duck Pond.
“We’re particularly proud of being able to treat the water at low cost, and make sure that we discharge within the limits of our operating permit” Kelly says.

The key to Duck Pond

Kelly stresses that behind the innovative, challenging and exciting work going on at Teck Duck Pond, strong employee relations are key.

“We treat everyone with the same level of respect and there’s no one job more important than another and that includes mine. Every employee has a say in what we do and everybody participates in the decisions we make” he says.

“At Duck Pond our focus is on health and safety, on our environment and on respect in the workplace.  Those are the things that ensure good product quality and ultimately being a successful, cost effective operation.”

The premise sounds very simple, but it has served Teck Duck Pond well.

“Getting everyone involved and treating them with respect – I think that’s the key” Kelly says.

This support system extends to their neighbours too.

“We also put a lot of time and energy into focusing on the communities around which we work. Kelly says.

“There are a number of small towns in our vicinity that the concentrate trucks travel through en route to the port so it’s important we maintain good relationships with everyone.”

Teck Duck Pond has a bright future ahead. With their solid team approach and superb support structure, hitting the 42 level and constructing their innovative and inexpensive lead cleaning and water treatment circuits, this is just the beginning!

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