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McMahon said the additional development work and exploration that Nyrstar wants to do in revising operations will take about four years to bring the mine back into full production.

The GM said a combination of low commodity prices and high operating costs led to Myra Falls’ closure in April 2015.

“The project wasn’t economic, so it was closed,” McMahon said.

However, commodity prices have since rebounded and Nyrstar completed a “full-potential exercise” on Myra Falls’ operations to review mining methodology and measure the impact that upgrading infrastructure would have on mining costs.

“And we put a business case together to show the mine was economic not only in good commodity cycles, but will be sustainable, using best practices, to weather the low cycles as well,” McMahon said.

Negotiating a new collective agreement with unionized employees represented by Unifor Local 3019 was another item on the checklist for the restart, which the company succeeded in doing in July.

“Our members are pleased to have an opportunity to return to work,” Local 3019 president John Humphrey said in an email.

McMahon said the firm’s recall efforts will begin shortly and he is confident many of Myra Falls’ employees will return. Some have found jobs out of town, while many found work on a short-term basis rebuilding a B.C. Hydro dam on the Campbell River.

Myra Falls was one of at least seven B.C. mines that suspended operations during a prolonged downturn in the industry; its closure in April 2015 put 275 of its then-roster of 350 employees out of work. It’s now one of three mines to be restarted since the downturn.

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