Mining Roundup for Northern British Columbia 2019 Edition By Kylie Williams
M
ining companies in northern British Columbia began 2019 with good news from British Columbia Premier John Horgan. In January, Horgan announced that the provincial government would make the Mining Flow-Through Share Tax and the B.C. Mining Exploration Tax Credit permanent incentives to support the mining and exploration sectors in B.C. Further good news arrived in January when Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced that the Red Mountain gold mine near Stewart had received approval under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to proceed with underground development operations. In the same month, Red Mountain changed hands from IDM Mining to Ascot Resources and, in April, Ascot signed a Benefits Agreement with the local Nisga’a Nation. Pretivm Resources’ Brucejack underground gold mine, also near Stewart, celebrated two years of operation in July. During the first nine months of the year, Brucejack produced 258,168 ounces of gold at a processing rate of
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Resource Connector North 2020
Silvertip silver-lead-zinc mine.
3,800 tonnes of ore per day. However, in a news release on October 30, Joseph Ovsenek, president and CEO of Pretivm, said conditions were “more challenging than anticipated” in the third quarter of 2019 and that “gold production [was] below our own expectations”. Pretivm plans to release updated mineral resource and reserve estimates in early 2020 and an updated life-of-mine plan. In the far north of the province, another of B.C.’s newer mines, Coeur Mining’s underground Silvertip silverlead-zinc mine, ticked over its first year in production in September. Coeur reported a slower than anticipated start up over the course of the year and are working to sustain consistent levels of mill availability, accelerate underground development rates, and implement workforce training and retention initiatives. A new operator for the Red Chris copper-gold mine was announced in March and finalized in August. Imperial Metals sold a 70 per cent interest in the mine, located near Iskut, to Newcrest Mining for US$804 million. The companies formed a joint venture, with Newcrest acting as operator. Production at the mine is expected to be in the
