Trinity Resources looking to rev up old CBS ‘talc mine’
By Craig Westcott/October 14, 2022
The public has until November 3 to comment on an application by Trinity Resources Ltd., to build a by-pass road and increase production at the old, misnamed talc mine in Long Pond.
Environment Minister Bernard Davis is expected to render a decision on November 12.
According to a document registered at the department, Trinity is looking to build a 1.3 km bypass road from Minerals Road to divert public traffic from the pyrophyllite mine and processing area. The company is also proposing to reactivate mining at the oval pit and Mine Hill deposits and add some processing equipment.
Though long mistaken by residents of CBS as being talc, because of its powdery white composition, pyrophyllite is actually a mineral used in the manufacturing of ceramic tiles.
The Mine Hill deposit was discovered in 1903 by Frederick Andrews, who built an aerial tramway from the mine to the railway to transport the pyrophyllite he mined over the next three years before selling the operation. In the more than a century since then, the deposits have been mined off and on, the longest operating stretch being from 1959 to 1995 by Newfoundland Minerals Limited, which produced some 25,000 to 45,000 tonnes a year, according to Trinity’s registration document.
The facility was mothballed in 1995 when NML’s parent company underwent a merger. In 1998, the mine was bought by Trinity Resources, which also had a slate operation in another area of the province. Since then, Trinity has been processing pyrophyllite from the stockpiles that were built up near the mine sites over the years and says it has been exporting some 100,000 metric tonnes of product annually over the wharf in Long Pond. Last year, according to the company, it shipped some 200,000 metric tonnes of cement grade pyrophyllite through Long Pond.
Trinity has told the department it has successfully developed other applications for the pyrophyllite and estimates it has some 30 million tonnes of reserves off Minerals Road and a mine life of more than 60 years. If approved, the company says it will spend over $8 million at the mine site over the next two years on the bypass road, upgrades to the processing plant and on re-establishing mining operations.
“Employment will exceed 50 full time jobs with additional direct and indirect expenditures on supplies, service providers and contractors,” according to a statement in the filing. “Annual exports are forecasted to grow which will provide continued support to the Port of Long Pond as Trinity is a significant commercial user of the port for export activities.”