Northwest Transmission Line: news items

COMMENT: On October 1, the BC Government gave marching orders to BC Transmission Corp to build a new transmission line in BC's northwest, from Terrace north up Highway 37 to Stewart. The project will deliver power to a number of proposed mining operations.

See New transmission line will boost northern B.C. economy

Northern electricity deal a boon for mining
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, 03-Oct-2007

Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
October 03, 2007

British Columbia's $400-million plan to link the province's northwest to the provincial electricity grid could give the B.C.'s mining industry its biggest boost in a half-century, mine project proponents said Tuesday.

The northwest has been described by geologists as a "golden triangle"
that crackles with potential for exploration and mine development.

Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minster Richard Neufeld noted in an interview on Tuesday that eight of B.C.'s 26 most advanced mining projects are located in the northwestern corner of B.C.

But until Monday's announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell, the biggest and most ambitious projects were simply too far from the BC Hydro grid to be economically viable.

They have languished because the cost of diesel-powered generation as a substitute for grid electricity was prohibitive.

A new transmission line from Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake will change all that. Not all the projects in the region may succeed, but several proponents said their economics just got a lot better.

Neufeld isn't forgetting that much of the cost to build the line will come from B.C. taxpayers -- but he's confident that the province will recover its investment through employment gains, and the royalties it collects on minerals -- especially in an era of strong commodity prices.

"I think a few things in the past have prevented some of the projects from going ahead. One is the price of energy, another is the remoteness, and the third was the commodity price. Today, those stars are kind of aligning," Neufeld said.

"The decision today is very good news to us," said Skyline Gold president Jeff Smulders.

Skyline's Bronson Slope has gold, copper, silver and molybdenum, but it's a porphyry-type deposit which means the precious and base metals are distributed in low-grade volumes across millions of tonnes of rock -- which must be milled in order to extract their wealth.

"An underground-vein gold mine can run on generator power, but to develop something moving 30,000, 50,000 tonnes a day, you need [grid] power for that," Smulders said.

Copper Fox Metal's Schaft Creek porphyry copper-gold deposit, with almost 1.4 billion tonnes of measured and indicated resources, is one of several large-volume projects.

Company president Guillermo Salazar said the transmission announcement would double the daily tonnage of material moving through a processing mill if the project proceeds to development -- vaulting from 65,000 tonnes per day with diesel, to 130,000 tonnes on the grid "without a problem."

"We have been hoping for something like this," Salazar said.

One major northwest mine, Galore Creek, is already under construction and it is contributing $158 million to the project.

Galore Creek has settled an accord with the Tahltan Central Council, and any future developments in the Northwest will require similar support from local first nations.

Tahltan Central Council chairman Curtis Rattray said in a telephone interview that the council is pressing BC Hydro and the provincial government for what he describes as "an enhanced environmental assessment process."

"The transmission line isn't necessarily going to be causing the impact. It's the mine development that will be using that powerline that will cause it," Rattray said.

"One study would look at the cumulative impacts of all the proposed mining projects in our territory.

"The other study we are looking at is a study of the Tahltan people, a social and cultural assessment of our people. What we want to be doing here is be ready for the potential risks and impacts of new mine development."

Fortune Minerals president Robin Goad said the company's Mount Klappan coal project will get a less substantial boost because it's less electricity-dependent.

But Goad said a power source will still help lower the company's production costs.

"It's most important to the big copper-gold companies where they've got very significant power costs," Goad said.

"We've engineered our project to use diesel hydraulic excavating equipment -- whereas if you have access to grid power you could use electric cable shovels which are cheaper and more efficient.

"So this is an opportunity for us to reduce our dependency on excessive diesel power generation -- and also, the cost of fuels is not going down. This is a concern for developing mines right now -- future costs are going to continue to up."

ssimpson@png.canwest.com