Operations

The Thompson Creek Mine is a primary molybdenum mine located in mountainous terrain with an open pit, mill and tailings facility. It is the fourth-largest primary molybdenum mine in the world. The property is approximately 35 miles southwest of the town of Challis in Idaho's Custer County, a historic mining area.



The mine, which began operations in 1983, uses conventional open-pit mining methods with large electric-powered shovels that can each move up to 100,000 tons of waste rock and ore per day. The shovels load ore into 200-ton trucks to be hauled to an on-site mill (concentrator). A molybdenum disulfide concentrate is extracted from the ore through a series of crushing, grinding, and flotation operations.

Daily throughput of ore at the mill has recently averaged close to 28,000 tons per day. Most of the molybdenum disulfide concentrate produced at the mine is further processed into technical grade molybdenum oxide at the Langeloth Metallurgical Facility in Pennsylvania.

During 2008, Thompson Creek conducted definition drilling beside and below the ore body. In a news release published on November 5, 2009, the Company announced new estimates for mineral resources and reserves (see table below) and a 16-year mine plan, which replaced the 10-year mine plan originally adopted in 2007 based on mineral reserves estimated in 2007.

The new reserves and mine life calculations are as of May 31, 2009 and assume a molybdenum price of US$10 per pound and updated costs. Click here to view the 43-101 technical report dated September 15, 2009 on the mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates and the life of mine plan.

Thompson Creek Mine - Mineral Reserves*

Category	Tons (millions)	Grade (%Mo)	Contained Mo (millions lbs)
Proven Reserves	91.8	0.094	172.3
Probable Reserves	72.8	0.072	104.9
Proven and Probable - Total	164.6	0.084	277.2

Thompson Creek Mine - Mineral Resources*

Category	Tons (millions)	Grade (%Mo)	Contained Mo (millions lbs)
Measured Resources	132.4	0.084	222.6
Indicated Resources	194.0	0.057	222.2
Measured and Indicated - Total	326.4	0.068	444.6
Additional Inferred Resources	29.1	0.042	24.2

*Note: Mineral reserves and resources were estimated by site personnel and audited by Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Assocates Inc. The estimates were as of May 31, 2009 and were based on a cut-off grade of 0.03% Mo, assumed long-term molybdenum price of US$10 per pound Mo and updated costs. The mineral reserves and resources were audited by John T. Postle, M.Sc., P.Eng., Christopher Moreton, Ph.D., P.Geo., and Kevin Scott P. Eng., all of whom are qualified persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101.The mineral reserves estimates are included in the measured and indicated mineral resources estimates.