VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Escalating resource exploration activity in north-west British Columbia’s rich ‘Golden Triangle’ has prompted the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) and Geotech Drilling Services to form a new partnership to enhance drilling services.

The partnership comes at a time of unfolding economic recovery as indicated by increased commodity prices, exploration activity and project acquisitions in Tahltan territory in 2016, TNDC CEO Garry Merkel tells Mining Weekly Online in an interview.

Geotech VP for sustainability Tim Mohring underscored the point, saying the company has seen a significant increase in the volume of requests for bids for work to be done in 2017, bolstering the company’s confidence of securing a thicker order book.

Called Tahltech Drilling Services, the partnership aims to provide exploration, geotechnical, environmental, construction and geothermal drilling services to natural resource and industrial development projects in traditional Tahltan territory.

TNDC is the business arm of the Tahltan Nation. Multi-discipline surface and underground drilling company Geotech brings extensive knowledge, experience and specialised technology to the partnership, which is expected to be extremely valuable to companies operating in Tahltan territory.

“Doing business with the partnership will give project proponents a significant local advantage,” said Merkel. It will improve efficiency, accuracy of data collection and adherence to safety and environmental standards by tapping a network of local service providers; by people with a vested interest in the region, he said.

ENHANCED ABILITIES
Under the partnership agreement, the Tahltan Nation recognises Geotech as its preferred service provider operating in Tahltan territory. TNDC has established a reputation through its work on hundreds of resource and industrial projects during its 30-plus-year history, Mohring told Mining Weekly Online.

The Tahltech Drilling partnership significantly strengthens TNDC’s capability and competitiveness in resource and industrial development. The new service expands the expertise and comprehensive product and service solutions TNDC and its partners can provide to resource developers, Merkel explained.

Tahltan territory covers 11% of British Columbia and is rich in natural resources, including the prolific Golden Triangle, which is the catalyst for dozens of existing and proposed energy, resource and industrial development projects in the region.

“The vast Golden Triangle has a lot of properties that needs a lot more drilling to become proven, requiring a lot of trothing of the resource models,” Mohring states.

He added that Geotech’s significant experience operating in the logistically challenged region gave outsiders an advantage, since outsiders often find it very difficult to orient the themselves in the area because of its rugged nature and remoteness.

The difficult terrain requires a lot of exploration work being done by helicopter, and a lack of accommodation camps force geologists to tough it out in the wilderness.

Merkel outlined a broad range of services available through Tahltech Drilling, including road construction, permitting, camp construction and even assistance with closing of projects where the company assumes reclamation obligations, allowing proponents to walk away after they are done with their activities.

According to Merkel, the Tahltan Nation has been in control of the economic activity in the region long before ‘first contact’ with European settlers, stressing the critical importance of gaining local stakeholder support for exploration and projects.

“It makes good business sense to partner with Tahltech as it helps to reduce customer overheads whale reducing the complexity of projects,” Merkel advises.