Photo by: Seabridge Gold
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – British Columbia-focused project developer Seabridge Gold on Monday announced that it had received early-stage construction permits for its KSM project from the provincial government.
The TSX-listed company reported that it had been granted the authority to construct and use roadways along the Coulter and Treaty creeks; rights-of-way for the proposed Mitchell–Treaty tunnels connecting project facilities; permits for constructing and operating numerous camps required to support constructions activities; and permits authorising early-stage construction activities at the mine site and the tailings management facility.
“We greatly appreciate the continuing support of the British Columbian government for the mining industry in general and our KSM project in particular. The issuance of these construction permits affirms the value of early and extensive consultation with interested parties and the close collaboration that can be achieved among regulators and local communities,” Seabridge chairperson and CEO Rudi Fronk said in a statement.
He noted that of particular importance was the granting of land tenure for the proposed Mitchell–Treaty tunnels, as it awarded to KSM the rights to a corridor connecting the project’s two main areas – the mine site and the tailings management facility.
The KSM project was undergoing a joint harmonised federal/provincial environmental assessment review as outlined by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and received its provincial environmental assessment certificate on July 30.
Seabridge expected to receive the final federal decision in November.
According to the firm’s 2011 updated prefeasibility study on KSM, in north-west British Columbia, the project contains National Instrument 43-101-compliant proven and probable reserves of 38.5-million ounces of gold and 9.9-billion pounds of copper.