article in local paper
This is second half will post other half shortly sorry for the copy paste
Northisle could make mine decision in 2026Continued from Page 1
Northisle has completed the
Preliminary Economic Assess-
ment phase “which is really
a litmus test to see whether
the project is worth pursuing
through further feasibility,”
said Van Dyk.“After 11-12
years of work by the previous
management team, we’ve got
a project that has enough eco -
nomic heft to move to the next
stage of evaluation.
Built around the Hushamu
and Red Dog deposits, the
company has early studies that
shows a mine could operate
economically for at least 22
years, would be a significant
producer, and could generate
significant economic value
for stakeholders, shareholders,
rights holders, and “anybody
that has an interest in the proj -
ect,” Van Dyk said. “The other
piece that we think is import -
ant is what we have today is
a project that probably makes
some sense economically”
and that could potentially be
in operation for decades and
be of economic benefit to the
local communities, the district,
and the province. This year,
Northisle will be doing project
development work including
social and environmental base-
line studies, engineering and
engagement, early-stage ex -
ploration on some new targets
that have been identified, and
later stage evaluation studies at
other targets including expand-
ing the Hushamu deposit. “We
think now is the right time to
raise the money. It’s a big proj-
ect. It’s a big ask. It takes a lot
of work to raise this kind of
money and we think the mar -
kets are in a supportive place
to build a copper asset and so
that’s why we’re focused on
this right now,” Van Dyk said.
“I think copper in particular is
really important in terms of the
electrification goals that both
Canada and many other ju -
risdictions worldwide have in
terms of building a sustainable
energy future,” he said.
“Copper is a critical part of
the electrification strategy. You
need it for electricity distribu -
tion. You need it to actually
build electric cars.”
Copper also happens to be
good for killing bacteria and
viruses. “There’s a lot of very
prominent uses that are rele-
vant to the world that we live
in today,” he said.
Opening a mine now is much
different than in the past.
“Sustainability has to be at
the heart of mine development.
Long past are the days where
you can develop a mine and
just worry about what happens
during the 20 years that you’re
operating a mine. We need to
think about what the site is to -
day, what it’s going to be while
we’re operating, and just as
importantly what it’s going to
become when the mine is done
because we want to ensure
that we leave a positive legacy
and reduce the impacts while
we’re in operation,” said Van
Dyk. “As a management team,
we’re really focused on a core
set of values and a key part of
that is that we don’t want to
build a mine in a way that we
aren’t happy having it in our
backyard. We want to build
something that we’re proud of
and that will leave a positive
legacy for everybody for de-
cades and decades after we’re
long gone.”
BC is not famous for having
high grade copper mines, but
it does have a number of op-
erating mines in part because
of the infrastructure that’s in
place in BC.“We’ve got a very
good electrical operator,” he
said, adding there are some
around the board table that
would debate that statement.
“I think that’s related more to
the local infrastructure and cer-
tainly that would be something
that we would seek to improve
as part of this project,” Van
Dyk said.
Having low-cost power, hav-
ing green power, and sustain -
able renewable power helps
the case both in terms of cost
and in terms of impacts, he
said.
The copper deposits are quite
close to the surface which re -
duces the amount of waste ma-
terial will be generated. “It is
an open pit operation. We are
very conscious of that, and it
will have an impact. It’s not a
thing that we’re shying away
from. We are being very con-
scious of what that impact is.”
Tanguay’s job is to quantify
the impact, help the company
to communicate it, ensure that
it is mitigating the impact as
much as possible and ensur -
ing that the concerns of local
community stakeholders are
considered.
The opportunity for mining
in the area is not just the core
deposits of Hushamu and Red
Dog deposit. “We see a num -
ber of very attractive explora-
tion targets that are within the
same mineral tenure. Those
exploration targets potentially
have a scale that could see this
being a 50- to 75-year opera -
tion. Not a 20-year operation,”
he said. “I’m sure everybody
in the room will appreciate
how impactful that could be on
the community.”
Northisle will be starting the
pre-feasibility study this year,
engaging further with First
Nations, and studying the best
alternative for mine develop-
ment including tailings.
“That’ll be a really important
part of developing the project
and we’ve actually moved that
up in the project timeline from
where it might traditionally be
considered,” he said.
A baseline socio-economic
study will also be initiated.
“We will be interacting with
service providers and munic-
ipalities as we go forward,”
Tanguay said.
“Do you have a tentative
start-up date,” asked Area A
(Malcolm Island) Director
Sandra Daniels.
“Speaking in very broad
strokes, there’s about a two-
year period of baseline data
collection during which we
would submit the initial proj -
ect description (to the gov-
ernment). After completion of
the baseline studies, we would
then formally enter the envi-
ronmental impact assessment
process that is again about a
two-year legislative process,”
he said, although that could
take much longer.
“It would then be two to 2 1/2
years of construction to reach
production.”
Chair Andrew Hory asked
how product would be moved
out of the North Island.
This could be done in a num -
ber of ways, but could involve
using the old BHP port site,
Van Dyk said. “It’s the most
logical and certainly the most
economical way to do it but
there’s lots of work to be done
to make sure that we under -
stand the impact there.”
This solution would include
consideration of a number of
alternatives for transporting
concentrate to the proposed
port site, including trucking
(similar to existing logging
trucks), conveying (similar to
how the Orca Quarry loads
material to ships), or a concen-
trate slurry pipeline. Any road
crossing would have a signifi-
cant impact on the community,
noted Hory. Northisle would
do everything possible to en-
sure the impact of the selected
alternative incorporates com-
munity feedback and mitigated
impacts, said Van Dyk. Some -
thing the company’s manage -
ment has also been discussing
is whether there is a way to use
the Cape Scott wind farm to
power the mine.
“Right now, it’s (power) ac -
tually transmitted quite a way
down the coast before it’s fed
into the grid and transmitted
back up here,” said Van Dyk.
“It certainly would be an in -
teresting discussion to have
to see if there was a way to
reduce the amount of distance
that power has to travel,” he
said. “We’re in the early days
in understanding the grid up -
grade requirements and any -
thing that we did, I would an -
ticipate would be a significant
improvement in the grid stabil-
ity in the North Island, rather
than the other way around.”
Hory asked about the com -
pany’s plans for housing if the
mine were to go ahead.
“We have a housing shortage
for our current workforce, for
our current population. Even
though our population has
gone down over the last 20
years, we have a lot of people
who own houses remotely”
which has limited the amount
housing available, Hory said.
“If we can get industry to
employ people that live in the
communities, that’s highly op-
timal for us. Where possible
we don’t like to see industry
bringing people in from out -
side. We would really love
investment in infrastructure”
said Hory, adding just about
every house in Port Hardy was
built by Utah Mines when the
Island Copper Mine opened.
“There’s some interesting
ideas in terms of improving
the housing supply, whether
it’s funded by Northisle, or
community organizations. You
would work together to create
a housing strategy that would
result in low -income hous -
ing stocks being improved.
There’s certainly lots of ideas
floating around about that and
it’s something that we’ve had
on our mind,” Van Dyk sai