Photo by: Avanti Mining
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – British Columbia on Monday announced that it had given TSX-V-listed Avanti Mining its Mines Act permit, allowing construction of the C$812-million Kitsault molybdenum mine, located 140 km north of Prince Rupert, to start.
Targeting first production by 2017, construction was expected to start in 2015 and employ about 700 people over two years, with 300 full-time workers to be employed during the mine's operation. Avanti expected to receive the remaining secondary construction-related approvals in the near future.
Kitsault is rated one of the top five primary molybdenum development projects in the world and is located close to existing infrastructure consisting of an electricity grid, with ocean and road access. The mine is expected to produce 45 500 t/d of high-strength-alloy-making molybdenum during its 14-year mine life.
"We are delighted with the decision by the chief inspector of mines and the issuance of the amendment to our Mines Act permit. This is a very significant milestone for the Kitsault project.
“Further, it is a forerunner for other corollary leases and licences that are anticipated within a few days and which will allow us to start road and camp construction at site,” Avanti president and CEO Gordon Bogden said.
He noted that Avanti's preconstruction funding was secured in December 2013 in the form of a C$50-million loan from Resource Capital Funds.
“In the meantime, Avanti continues its project debt negotiations with its banking syndicate while it explores, in parallel, a number of other financing sources such as the sale of a silver stream and investment by a strategic partner,” Bogden said.
MINING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
The past-producing Kitsault molybdenum mine is located on Nisga’a First Nation traditional territory in the Nass Wildlife Area and the province and the Nisga’a are currently in discussions regarding an Economic and Community Development Agreement (ECDA).
ECDAs are agreements between the province and First Nations that support First Nations partnerships and create certainty on the land through sharing direct mineral tax revenues on new mines and major mine expansions. British Columbia is the first province in Canada to share direct revenue generated from mining with First Nations. Fourteen agreements have been reached and a number are under negotiation.
Avanti received a provincial environmental assessment (EA) certificate for their Kitsault mine on March 18, 2013, and a federal EA decision is pending.
A recent industry report had pegged the value of the mining industry in British Columbia at C$8-billion. In 2001, it was C$2.8-billion.
The Energy and Mines Ministry said the province today has 18 operating mines comprising eight coal mines and ten metals mines. In 2001, there were 15 operating mines (seven coal and eight metal).
Since 2011, three new significant mines had started operations in British Columbia, including Copper Mountain, Newgold’s New Afton mine and Thompson Creek’s Mt Milligan mine, creating more than 1 200 new jobs.
Three more mines are expected to start operation this year, including Banks Island Gold’s Yellow Giant, Imperial Metals’ Red Chris mine and Anglo American’s Roman mine, which together would add another 815 new jobs.
Further, the province had permitted four more mines, including Barkerville Gold Mines’ Bonanza Ledge, Huldra Silver’s Treasure Mountain, Teck Resources’ Quintette coal mine and now Kitsault.
Seven significant expansions of existing mines had also been completed, supporting 3 300 existing jobs. British Columbia also currently had more than 30 significant expansion and mine project proposals moving through the EA and permitting process.