TIMMINS - The diamond anniversary year for a legacy mine in Timmins will be its last.
Glencore says its Kidd Creek Mine will stop production at the end of 2026, said Alexis Segal, head of communications for Glencore Canada. That year, the mine will mark 60 years since it went into production.
Staff at the mine site out Highway 655 and at the met site on Highway 101 in the Timmins' east end will continue to work until the end of December 2026. The reclamation works will take years and starts early in 2027, Segal said.
Glencore's team met with the City of Timmins administration last week to give them a head's up about the closure announcement.
"We've been active in discussions with Glencore leadership and in talking about what the future outlook is and then what it'll mean for our community, and making it clear to them that we very much want to be part of those discussions about what's going to happen with their sites and their assets into the future, and how it can benefit the community to the most," said Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau.
Originally owned by Texas Gulf Sulphur, Kidd started producing in 1966 as an open-pit mine before operations migrated underground.
Today, it's the deepest base-metal mine in the world, with mining at 9,800 feet and the shaft bottom at 9,889 feet. For perspective, it would take nearly 5.5 CN Towers stacked one on top of the other to reach the surface from the bottom of the mine.
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The Kidd Mine closure date has been speculated for years.
In 2021, Glencore did an $80 million feasibility study to look at another deep mine expansion, known as Mine 5. At that time, the mine's life was expected to run out in 2023.
"Results of the study showed that operating more than three kilometres deep would be challenging from a technical and economical point of view," said Segal.
Talking to TimminsToday, Boileau noted that the closure has been talked about for a while.
"I don't want to minimize the impact that this is going to have. We'll definitely feel it but gone are the days where this will ruin Timmins," she said.
Because the mine will be fully using its sites for the next two years, the city's tax levy won't take a hit until the full closure. Because of the looming closure, over recent years she said that Glencore's local taxes have already decreased.
"We're hoping that at the end of 2026 when Glencore is no longer operating in Timmins, there'll have been new businesses and new operations that have come into Timmins that will be able to help compensate for the loss," she said.
There are parts of Glencore's infrastructure that the city is hoping not to lose.
"We know that there's a lot of promising opportunity coming up on the horizon, new mining operations and the emerging Timmins nickel district, and there's interest in the infrastructure that Glencore has. We've expressed our interest in wanting to be a part of the conversation as to what they'll be able to do with their land and the physical infrastructure that's on it," she said.
Earlier this year, Canada Nickel, which has a proposed open-pit, zero-emission operation located 40 kilometres north of Timmins near the Kidd Creek mine site, said it's developing to processing facilities in Timmins. One is for nickel and the other is for stainless-steel and alloy production.
Existing brownfield sites, including the Met site, are being considered.
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Boileau also acknowledged the people who will be impacted by the closure of Kidd mine.
"This will have an impact on their personal lives. My hope is that it doesn't have to be a negative impact. Change is never easy, but we know that there are a lot of opportunities currently available to people in the mining sector, a lot of job vacancies. So I'm hopeful that the people being impacted by this will be able to land themselves in another position in mining, utilizing their skills," she said.
After decades of operating two sites in Timmins, there's also a sentimental aspect to the news.
"I just want to acknowledge that that thousands and thousands of Timmins residents and from the area have worked there. Generations of workers have have gone through their sites. And so, you know, it's been an important it's been a staple in our community. They've made, you know, significant contributions to the community," said Boileau.
This story has been updated to include comments from Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau
