 The mine was designed as a 3000-dmtpd (dry metric tonne per day) operation.With the Block 5 expansion, the mine shaft reached a depth of more than 5000 feet.Originally owned by Noranda, shaft sinking and development were started by Canadian Mine Enterprises and when that company went bankrupt during 1983 shaft sinking, lateral and raise development, as well as the initial production mining, employing long hole mining methods, were executed by MacIsaac Mining and Tunnelling.