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WEDNESDAY, October 16, 2013
VOL. 36 NO. 33 $1.30 inc. GST
Mount Milligan marks commissioning Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier The Mount Milligan copper-gold mine held a commissioning ceremony on site Oct. 8 with government and mine officials in attendance. The commissioning means the mine is operational, with the equipment having been tested and run through the start-up phases. The mine is expected to be in full commercial production by the end of the year. The mine cost around $1.57 billion to build over three and a half years, and in 2012 pumped $125 million in spending into the region. Dennis Hoof, Mount Milligan vice president and general manager spoke at the event about the rapid development of the property, which was a deposit first discovered by Fort St. James prospector Richard Haslinger in 1983. “What we’ve experienced at Mount Milligan … is nothing short of a very extraordinary accomplishment,” said Hoof. Thompson Creek Metals bought the Mount Milligan project from Terrane Metals in 2010 and began construction the same year. Haslinger himself was at the commissioning, and said the project would never have happened without Rob Pease, president and CEO of Terrane Metals, who brought the project to the development phase. Kevin Loughrey, chairman and chief executive officer of Thompson Creek Metals, remarked on the importance of Mount Milligan for Thompson Creek, which up until now has been strictly a molybdenum-producing company. With molybdenum prices being low at the moment, Thompson Creek is looking to Mount Milligan to diversify their company’s assets and income. “We have worked a long time to get to this point,” said Loughrey, who joked lightly about the cost overruns and extra financing the project required to get to production. “This means everything for our company,” he
said. Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Shirley Bond and Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett were also both in attendance and spoke briefly. “I’m really proud of the fact that the McLeod Lake Indian Band and the Nak’azdli Indian Band are going to share in revenue from this project,” said Bennett. Both groups have agreements with the provincial government, however, Nak’azdli First Nation has not yet negotiated a revenuesharing agreement with Thompson Creek while Tse’khene (McLeod Lake) First Nation has. Once in full production, the mine is expected to process an average of 60,000 tonnes of ore per day. The first concentrate has now been shipped via the load out in Mackenzie and the ore produced contains an estimated 2530 per cent copper and an ounce of gold per tonne. The mine is expected to produce 81 million pounds of copper and 195,000 ounces of gold over an estimated 22-year mine life. There are around 350 people working at the mine, which is located 150 km northwest of Prince George, and there were over 1,000 people working at the site during the peak of construction. Eighty per cent of the employees are from the Prince George, Mackenzie, Fort St. James and Vanderhoof area. Haslinger found the ore body in his prospecting around Fort St. James. Haslinger came to the area under the advisement of someone he met while kayaking the Liard River in the Yukon. The man told Haslinger Fort St. James would be a good area for gold, so he moved here and found work as a hunting guide, hand faller and other jobs, but always prospecting on the side. “More than 40 years later and I’m still here,” he said.
LEFT: L-R: Dennis Hoof vice president and general manager for Mount Milligan, Kevin Loughrey CEO for Thompson Creek Metals, prospector Richard Haslinger, MLA Mike Morris , MLA Shirley Bond, MLA Bill Bennet. BELOW: Mine trucks are rolling from the pit at Mount Milligan, as the mine builds to full production. Ruth Lloyd/Caledonia Courier
Anti-pipeline alliance asks UN for help
Sam Redding Omineca Express
The Yinka Dene Alliance is asking for a United Nations special rapporteur to investigate the actions of the provincial government concerning the Enbridge pipeline. The alliance, of which Saik’uz and Nak’azdli nations are a part, readily admits that they’re scared of what could happen if the pipeline comes through and this latest action is a result of the temporary land use permits issued to Enbridge in August. The UN envoy, James Anaya, will be visiting Canada from October 7 to 15 to submit a report to the Canadian government and the United Nations human rights council. The permits allow Enbridge to occupy three sites within the Nak’azdli territory on the banks of the Stuart River. Ivan Giesbrecht spoke to the Omineca Express before the request went out and said that the permits were only there to provide information that was requested by Aboriginal groups and officials at the Joint Review Panel hearings. He had said that the permits were not pushing the Northern Gateway pipeline forward, but only assess-
ments that need to be completed. “They are two separate things entirely,” Giesbrecht had said. After the UN request went out Omineca Express spoke again with Giesbrecht who said that Enbridge and the Northern Gateway project are fully compliant with the legally established provincial process which they are currently carrying out. The federal joint review panel will deliver its recommendations on the project to the federal minister by the end of the year. “The whole way the project was initiated raised flags all over the place,” said Jackie Thomas, former chief of the Saik’uz, now land and resource coordinator. “We did our own study and found that it was not safe. We consulted with our communities and they said no. So they came back again in 2008 and they asked us to join the joint review panel system and when we took a look at it we saw it was a flawed process. They can’t deal with titles and rights and the prime minister could just overturn any decision that they make anyway.” On entering Jackie Thomas’ office, one can see the big pile of papers that the government and Enbridge expect a small group to get through. A task for a team of lawyers, which makes it difficult for an alliance of pipeline
protesters. The Yinka Dene Alliance and Saik’uz nation are being overrun by referrals and legal documents sent to their office. They believe that the Enbridge will also overrun the coast if the tankers are allowed to transport oil. “That inlet is so small, they’re talking about a hundred super tankers a day, each one bigger than a football field. That’s just an accident waiting to happen,” said Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, the Yinka Dene Alliance spokesperson. Geraldine and Jackie showed the Omineca Express a letter from Enbridge written to Chief Fred Sam of the Nak’azdli Band. In it, Malcolm MacPherson, regional manager of Aboriginal relations writes that they do not intend to conduct any work under these permits at this time. But the Yinka Dene representatives said that there are workers out on the sites right now. They also say that there are 33 permits that have been issued. They believe this is all to keep them quiet so the work under the permits can continue. The Alliance said that they hope that the people of Vanderhoof and the rest of the affected areas, speak up and stand with the Yinka Dene Alliance, as they need all the support they can get.