Table 1-4
                   Estimated Daily Concentrate Production and Storage Capacity

                               Production                  Storage      
             Storage
                                 Rate                       Capacity    
             -Capacity
                                 (tons)                      (tons)     
               (days)

Massive Ore Phase
Zinc                            1,060                       2,500       
                 2.4
Copper                            145                       1,050       
                 7.2
Lead                               56                       1,000       
                18

Stringer Ore Phase'
Zinc                               55                       2,500       
                45
Copper                            390                       1,050       
                 2.7

'Since lead concentrate would not be produced during this phase, an additional
1,000 tons of storage
capacity would be available if needed.

Concentrate Storage and Shipping - The dewatered concentrates would be transported
by conveyor
belts to the enclosed concentrate loadout facility. Conveyor belts would
transport the concentrates
to the north end of the concentrator building into 70 to 100 ton capacity,
open top gondola railcars.
After loading, each railcar would be covered with a plastic sheet or sprayed
with a polymer to reduce
dusting. Exxon' s locomotive would deliver 16 to 18 loaded rail cars to the
siding daily during daylight
hours. Approximately every three days the Soo Line would pick up 50 to 55
loaded rail cars and
return 50 to 55 empty rail cars. Truck haulage of concentrates is not anticipated
but 20 ton capacity
trucks would be used if necessary. None of the the concentrates would be
smelted or otherwise
processed in Wisconsin. They would be shipped to smelting and refining facilities
in other places in
the United States, Europe or Asia. The potential destinations for the concentrates
are discussed in
Chapter Four of the DEIS.

Rail Deliveries - Rail deliveries of mine/mill supplies would consist of
about 10 railcars per week.
Delivery requirements, railcar availability, and weather, however, may cause
variances in the
proposed shipping frequency and railcar numbers.

Backfill Preparation - At the backfill preparation facility, the coarse fraction
of the tailings, about
half the total, would be recovered, mixed with crushed waste rock and cement
(as needed), and
pumped as a slurry to the mine. Coarse tailings would be stored in two steel
tanks with a combined
capacity of 18,000 tons (about six days of coarse tailings output). Backfilling
would begin with the
start of milling operations. Demand would be continuous and would roughly
equal daily coarse
tailings production. About 3,150 and 2,750 tons of coarse tailings would
be produced daily during the
massive and stringer ore processing phases, respectively.

Fine Tailings Thickening and Transport - Fine tailings cannot be used as
backfill because of their poor
drainage characteristics. The fine tailings would require disposal in the
tailings ponds. After
separation from the coarse tailings at the backfill preparation facility,
the fine tailings slurry would
be pumped to thickeners. In the thickeners, lime added to the slurry would
cause the tailings to sink.
The tailings then could be mechanically raked to the center of the thickener
and pumped as a slurry,
55% solids by weight, by pipeline to the tailings ponds. Overflow water from
the thickeners would be
recycled to the backfill preparation facility or pumped to the reclaim pond.

Reagents - Many chemicals would be used in the milling and water treatment
processes. Reagents in
bags or drums would be stored in the concentrator building next to the flotation
circuits. Bulk liquid
reagents would be pumped from storage tanks to the mixing tanks in the flotation
area. After
mixing, the reagent blends would be pumped to day tanks for storage and use.
Durable reagent
containers, such as drums, would be returned to the suppliers for refilling.
The reagent storage areas
would be serviced by rail and truck. A summary of the reagent types and uses
is contained in
Table 1-5.



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