Osoyoos Indian Band and West High Yield Resources (TSXV:WHY) have signed a co-operation agreement regarding the company’s Record Ridge magnesium project near Rossland, B.C.
The company says the agreement was negotiated based on its commitment to advancing sustainability, sound environmental practices, good governance, and respecting Indigenous rights.
Osoyoos Indian Band, as a member of the Syilx Okanagan Nation whose traditional territory includes Rossland, undertook its own independent review of WHY's application for a B.C. mining permit.
"This agreement recognizes Osoyoos Indian Band's sovereignty over our lands and represents our continued efforts to ensure that our lands are protected and managed in accordance with our wishes, values, and principles. This agreement assures us of our oversight of the project, thereby protecting our peoples' environmental and economic interests," said Chief Clarence Louie. "Our independent review of the company's mining application reinforces our commitment to working with the company going forward."
WHY holds a 100 per cent interest in the mineral rights of the Record Ridge project. The measured and indicated resource is 43 million tonnes grading 24.61 per cent magnesium and containing 10.6 million tonnes of the metal. The inferred portion is 1 million tonnes grading 24.37 per cent magnesium and containing 260,000 tonnes of metal. A cut-off of 21.9 per cent magnesium was used in these calculations.
The Record Ridge prefeasibility study put the after-tax net present value with a 5 per cent discount at US$872 million and an internal rate of return of 72 per cent. The open pit mine has a 20-year life and will use a proprietary hydrometallurgical process to produce magnesia (MgO) of at least 99 per cent purity.
A provincial decision on WHY's mining permit application is expected by the end of this year