Resource InvestorThis news item has been circulating.... The BC Mining Minister mentioned the Ruby Creek Project.
********
Mount Milligan Leading Contender for Next B.C. Mine
By Gordon Hoekstra
05 Mar 2008 at 11:24 AM GMT-05:00
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. (CP) -- The Mount Milligan gold and copper project, north of Prince George, was named among the leading contenders to be the next mine to open in B.C. by provincial mining officials.
Speaking to reporters by tele-conference Tuesday from PDAC in Toronto, Dan Jepsen, the CEO of the Association of Mineral Exploration B.C, said it was a “no-brainer” to develop Terrane Metal's [TSX-V:TRX] Mount Milligan project.
It had been permitted once already, that time under Placer Dome.
“The communities I've met with in the North in that area are very, very anxious - with the recent permanent (forest products) mill closures in that area - to see some good news on a project like that to move forward,” Jepsen told reporters.
Jepsen also named the Tulsequah Chief project to mine zinc, copper, gold and silver, which is being developed by Redcorp Ventures Ltd.
Pierre Lebel, the chair of the B.C. Mining Association, named the Red Chris project, which is owned by the company he is chairman of, Imperial Metals Corp.
B.C. junior mining minister Kevin Krueger named the New Afton gold and copper project, the Ruby Creek molybdenum mine, and the massive Galore Creek gold, copper and silver mine.
All but New Afton, located near Kamloops, are in northern B.C.
Krueger said there is a lot of enthusiasm about British Columbia at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada international convention, the largest of its kind in the world which has attracted 20,000 people this year.
“People know we have half of all the major projects running through the approval process in Canada,” he said.
However, it is important to get a new mine up and running to maintain investor confidence in British Columbia, said Jepsen.
Despite a massive increase in exploration spending in British Columbia - a 57% year over year jump in 2007 to C$416 million, and one which beats the world increase of 31% - no new mineral mines have been built in the better part of a decade in the province.
NovaGold [TSX:NG; AMEX:NG] and Teck Cominco [TSX:TCK-B; NYSE:TCK] put a halt to construction on the recently-permitted Galore Creek Project in northwest B.C. after estimated costs more than doubled to US$5 billion.
Last fall, a joint B.C.-Canada review panel rejected Northgate Mineral's [TSX:NGX; AMEX:NXG] C$200-million Kemess North gold and copper project.
“A mine in the permitting process provides no contribution to the Canadian economy. We have to get build them and get them up and operating, or unfortunately we're going to see a hit to exploration investment,” said Jepsen.
He hopes the recent C$150-million investment by the federal government in the major projects office will help move the 23 mining projects in the permit process in B.C. in a timely manner.
Jepsen said a consolation is that B.C. is not alone in the world in facing challenges with escalating costs and getting support from indigenous populations and local communities for mines.
He noted that while more than C$15 billion had been spent worldwide over the past three years to locate the next “elephant” mineral deposit, there has been no discovery as large as the Galore Creek deposit in northern B.C.
Lebel noted that analysts at the convention are projecting continuing demand for metals and coal, fueled by the increasing importance of emerging markets in Asia, led by China and India.
With China and Indian, and to a lesser extent the United States, slated to build 1,000 coal-fired energy plants in the next five years, demand for coal is not expected to wane, said Lebel.
Copper has also seen a resurgence with some analysts predicting it could rise above $4 a pound, while gold is flirting with the US$1,000 per ounce mark. Gold was less than US$300 an ounce in 1998, he noted.
The prices for zinc, silver and molybdenum have also increased.
© The Canadian Press 2008