New St. Lawrence fluorspar mine means high hopes for local job seekers

The deputy mayor of St. Lawrence, on Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula, says there's much optimism in his town now that preparation work for a new fluorspar mine is underway.

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Jack Walsh told the St. John's Morning Show that contractor Pennecon is now clearing land at the site where the open pit mine will be developed.

St John's Morning Show4:50Reopening the fluorspar mine

St. Lawrence readies for hundreds of jobs.

"We're very enthusiastic about our future here," he said. "There's a lot of interest from all over the peninsula."

Once it's up and running, the operation will mine for fluorsparor fluorite,a mineral used for a wide range ofindustrial and commercial materials, including for camera and telescope lenses.

Walsh said Canada Fluorspar Inc.has ordered equipment for the actual construction of the mill, and work on that site will start in June. Pennecon expects to be done clearing the land in the next 10 days.

Walsh said there's a lot of excitement following an information session last week, where more than 400 people turned out.

"Starting off there could be 350 to 400 construction jobs. That'll be for about two years," he said. "And then, when the mine opens itself, when they go into production, it's going to be 200 full-time jobs for 10 years, right now."

Walsh said it's expected that minerals will be coming out of the ground sometime in2017, four years later than the developer had hoped.

A cost overrun sent the company back to the drawing board in 2013 to reconsider the scope of the project.

St. Lawrence is no stranger to mining. A fluorspar operation that shut down in 1978 has a dark legacy of health issues, including lung cancer.

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This time around, Walsh said he has yet to hear any real environment or safety concernabout the development.

"I must say, it's been pretty positive so far," he said. "The only negative comments we've had so far is that people didn't really understand when they said they were going to truck it to Marystown for a couple years while they get their capital funding so they could build a loading dock in Blue Beach."