Power line price tag jumps

By Staff Writer - Terrace Standard
Published: April 11, 2012 7:00 AM
Updated: April 11, 2012 9:36 AM

Topping the list of future contributors is Imperial Metals which is working on final permitting and financing for its Red Chris copper property north of Bob Quinn. The project already has provincial and federal environmental approval.

Imperial would need to build its own line from its ore body down to the Bob Quinn substation.

And while it has said it wants to be BC Hydro’s first customer by having its mine ready to open when the Northwest Transmission Line is finished in early 2014, a connection deal has yet to be announced.

Another active mineral property is the Kerr–Sulphurets-Mitchell property west and to the south of Bob Quinn, owned by Seabridge Gold, and being marketed as one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Canada and one of the largest copper properties in the world.

Seabridge has been gathering environment and technical information for years and plans to apply for environmental approval this fall.

Its project plan does call for it to use power from the Northwest Transmission Line.

Given that the company is focussed now on environmental approval, a company official said it was premature to talk about any kind of financial agreement with BC Hydro.

A third property, Galore Creek which is to the west of Bob Quinn and which is also a major copper ore body, is also a potential customer but its future is uncertain.

Owned equally by junior NovaGold and major Teck Resources, Galore Creek became the focus for the northwest in the middle part of the last decade when both companies began developing a large mine at the location.

Part of the construction program involved paying for a portion of the transmission line.

But mine development costs soared in late 2007 and the mine project was put on hold.

That also put the brakes on the transmission line until the federal government came up with its $130 million.

NovaGold did release a new and optimistic mine plan in 2011 but late last year announced it was spinning its copper holdings off to a new company, NovaCopper so it could concentrate on an Alaskan gold property. It also announced it was putting its share of Galore Creek up for sale.

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