Exploratory drilling on Catface could last two more years
canada.com
BY STEFANIA SECCIA, WESTERLY NEWS, WITH FILES FROM POSTMEDIA NEWS AUGUST 5, 2010
Despite reports exploratory drilling on Catface Mountain would culminate this year, Imperial Metals Corp. is taking its time.
Aug. 13, 2009 Selkirk Minerals Ltd., before being acquired by Imperial, was granted 22 drill holes from 11 sites--one accessed by helicopter and the others by road in a transition to a land-based program.
Catface is in the traditional territory of the Ahousaht First Nation in Clayoquot Sound.
"We continue to work on the results of the drilling so it is an ongoing process," Gordon Keevil, Imperial's corporate development vice president, told the Westerly in an email.
"We do expect that the drilling will be conducted over a period of time and possibly in phases. This will allow for the receipt and interpretation of the results that will lead to the planning of future drilling."
Keevil also said he could not comment on an updated level of copper so far discovered on the mountain, but "drilling to date is as we have expected."
Catface has a measured and indicated projection of 319,311,000 tonnes grading 0.38 per cent copper (as of last fall), although it is still an open estimation due to the ongoing exploratory drilling.
"Development of the deposit is not eminent as additional drilling is required to evaluate and define the areas of mineralization after which feasibility studies (including environmental) would have to be completed before we could commence the permitting process, which is at least a two-year process that includes extensive public consultation and a broad spectrum of regulatory review," Keevil said.
Three years ago the Ahousaht and the mining company signed an MOU and in two years it expires. In 2008, the Westerly News reported that Ahousaht received almost $300,000 through various frameworks from Selkirk.
Keevil said he could not comment due to confidentiality between both parties if any more money has been exchanged.
Through the MOU the Ahousaht approved the exploratory drilling, but not the copper mine itself.
"There is no mine plan or study to date for any party to review and or approve," Keevil said.
If the mine is approved it could require about 400 to 500 workers during construction and 250 to 300 in operations, according to Keevil.
"We are working with the Ahousaht on opportunities that are related to the current level of operations," said Keevil. "The current work force is predominantly [from] Ahouasht."
Currently the Catface exploration team works 24 hours a day and are mainly composed of Ahousaht First Nations, which has required no camp on the mountain.
"We have core processing buildings on site and the drill is manned continuously," he added. "There is no camp to dismantle and reclaim and the core processing facilities will remain on site."
Ahousaht's chief band councillor John Frank Sr. told the Westerly the mining act rules make it very difficult to commence a mine.
He said if a mine does go forward with Ahousaht on board it would eradicate having "the First Nations sitting on the bottom of the ladder for the last 100 years."
"Now the First Nations have the opportunity to be part of the solution," Frank said. "Catface is being looked at seriously, maybe down the line we could change it from Imperial Metals to Ahousaht."
"The amount of copper in that mountain is amazing."
Frank said the decision of having a mine on the mountain is up to the community, not the hereditary chiefs or council.
"It's up to the people of Ahousaht and I say that really loudly," he said. "We can't sway them, we will give them the info and they can decide for themselves."
Frank, who was recently re-elected in July, said the five-year MOU has two more years left on it and the company could continue its exploratory drilling up to that point.
"I really want to make it clear that what we do in our sand box is our own business," he said. "It is none of anybody else's business what we do in our sand box. It's in our best interest that we stop sitting on the sidelines watching."
In early July, a Bloomberg report revealed that some of the biggest players in copper production internationally were warning of supply limits in the near future.
This news received a warm welcome from B.C.-based copper miners.
"The likely result would be high prices and we would benefit from that," Greg Waller, Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd. vice president of investor relations and strategic analysis, said.
"A one-cent change in copper prices impacts our earning by $4 million annually."
Another industry financial officer said it's very good for them because with higher prices, payback is quicker and provides more cash flow for shareholders.
"In the long term, we think the market will be tight over the next 10 years, given the growth in demand," said Michael Pento, chief economist at Delta Global Advisors Inc. in Holmdel, N.J.
While one company expected prices no higher than $6,652 US a metric ton through the end of 2011, 13 or 14 analysts surveyed expect a shortage next year, according to the Bloomberg report.
Raymond Goldie, a senior mining analyst with Salman Partners, said a shortage already exists, which is good news for B.C. because it produces copper concentrate.
He noted that copper consumption, globally, is growing at a rate of two per cent each year.
On Monday, copper prices surged to three-month highs.
However, as the copper industry is picking up and is proving beneficial for the province, the community of Tofino is still concerned over what an independent industry analyst had to say, at a meeting held on May 11 at the Tofino Legion, about a Catface copper mine.
Arthur Caldicott was asked to speak about the potential mine by NDP MLA Scott Fraser, with roughly 62 people attending.
Caldicott said the only upsides to the mine would be jobs and tax revenue, which would come at a cost of serious environmental impacts.
For example, one of the issues raised was that the waste rock and tailings material produced could leach toxic sulfide into the environment.
"Once they've hauled the rock out of the ground and ground it up and put it in the waste pits, it is an environmental nightmare," Caldicott told the crowd, adding that Irishmen Creek, a nearby salmon-bearing stream, would be "certainly devastated," by a mining operation.
Imperial currently has two operating mines in B.C. -- Mount Polley and Huckleberry, which has an expected closure date for 2012. And Catface is one of two projects the company has in the exploratory drilling phase, Red Chris in Northern B.C. being the other.
Caldicott noted the company would look to keep its 2009-revenue level ($201 million in revenue, $35.5 million in net income) by bringing another producing mine site online.
About one week after the Tofino session, three-dozen people with the Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) and Western Canada Wilderness Committee gathered in front of the 550 Burrard Street building in Vancouver where, inside, Imperial was hosting its annual general meeting.
As the protesters held signs and handed out leaflets, Ahousaht's hereditary chiefs were outraged and demanded through a media release that outsiders stop undermining Ahousaht's leaders and their decision making process. On July 21, the FOCS hosted Catface Café, an information session to speak further about the proposed copper mine.
Attendees filled Darwin's Café to hear members speak of the updates in the process and what could be done.
When Dan Lewis, of the FOCS and speaker at the event, was asked if the same level of protests seen over logging in the 1990s could happen again, but over mining almost 20 years later, he posed the question to the room. The unanimous consensus in the room was yes.
Clayoquot Sound's protest over forestry is now the second largest mass arrest of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
However, in the 1990s, protesters and First Nations were on the same side of the picket line.
Lewis said the group is working to meet with the Ahousaht in the fall to respectfully share information with them on the environmental downsides of the mine and the precarious nature of the industry.
Also, it's really not a consistent economic driver as mines can open and close with the market, according to the FOCS.
He said the company also does not have a clean record working with other First Nation communities in B.C.
The FOCS also expressed concerns about the social impact on the community as jobs created by the mine would dominantly require outside hirings, or transferring miners from other closing Imperial mines.
Miners can make anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000 annually.
For more information about Imperial Metals visit www.imperialmetals.com. For historic media releases visit www.sedar.com.
--reporter@westerlynews.ca |
