Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/554714
40 www.resourceworld.com a u g u s t / s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5 miNiNg MOst investORs unDeRstAnD the importance of having a diversified invest- ment portfolio. After all, putting all your eggs in one basket poses some obvious hazards as many of us have learned to our detriment. Yet most mining companies (and investors too) focus on a single com- modity, preferring to focus on a "pure" play whether they produce gold, silver, copper or some other metal. The reason for this business strategy is arguably more perception than reality – namely that the market values pure plays higher than their more product-diversified competitors. That's surprising in many respects because inflation is not just one of the main drivers of gold but other com- modities as well including copper and its associated base metals. More often than not, when gold trades higher on inflation- based expectations other metals do too. Canada's most historically productive and profitable mining camp is the Sudbury Basin, the earth's largest preserved meteor impact crater and host to over two bil- lion tonnes of polymetallic ore containing nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palla- dium, gold and silver. In production for over 100 years, the largest producer by far in the Sudbury camp is Brazil's vale [VALE-NYSE]. In total, Vale has six mines, a mill, a smelter and a refinery in Sudbury, making it one of the largest integrated mining operations on the globe. To the north of Sudbury is the Timmins camp which, until the early 1960s, was known almost exclusively for its gold production. However, in 1963 Texas Gulf Sulphur made the giant Kidd Creek dis- covery approximately 30 km north of Timmins which sparked an investment frenzy around the world. Foreign specula- tors were dialing random numbers in the Timmins area code trying to get informa- tion on the discovery. Its metal constituents include copper, zinc, lead, silver, tin, cadmium, antimony and minor amounts of germanium. The volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit (VMS) was discovered by drill testing a strong, airborne electromagnetic anomaly which had been known for years but remained untested. Owned and operated by Glencore [GLEN-LSE], Kidd Creek is the deepest base metals mine in the world. In 2011, Glencore committed to a $148 million mine-deepening project which has allowed mining to a depth of 9,600 feet, with shaft bottom at 9,889 feet. In fact, the mine's deepest point represents the closest man- made structure to the centre of the earth. While the largest and richest polymetal- lic mineral deposits are situated in central and eastern Canada, British Columbia's dormant Sullivan Mine at Kimberley ranks at the top in terms of longevity. The Sullivan deposit was a complex, sed- iment-hosted orebody made up primarily of zinc, lead, and iron sulfides. Lead, zinc, silver and tin were the economic metals produced. by David Duval MulTi-MeTal (pOlyMeTallic) DepOsiTs production diversification provides measure of stability in price-cyclical markets