S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 35
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Red Chris opening delayed By JOSH MASSEY THE OPENING of the Imperial Metals Red Chris copper and gold mine has been delayed until the new year as the company continues to seek a final provincial environmental permit and negotiates with the Tahltan Central Council over recommendations contained in a review of the facility’s tailings pond. Speaking in Terrace Dec.
12, Tahltan Central Council president Chad Day said the next few months will be critical for agreements with Imperial which had originally anticipated starting up its $643 million mine on Tahltan traditional territory by the end of this year.. “There is still negotiations happening so it’s difficult to say if and when that mine is going to start operating soon,” said Day. The tailing pond report
commissioned by the Tahltan and paid for by Imperial from consultants Klohn Crippen Berger pinpointed 22 recommendations to ensure proper mine preparation including a drainage blanket, raising one of the crests of the dam and precautionary monitoring during early operation to make sure the tailings facility was functioning correctly. “We plan on ensuring that all the recommendations get implemented in one form or
another and that’s all part of our discussions with the company right now,” said Day. The review was arranged following a blockade of the mine by Tahltan protesters and others who were worried that the failure of Imperial’s Mt. Polley copper mine tailings pond in August would be repeated at Red Chris. The mine is located approximately 20 kilometres east of Hwy37 North, 18 kilometres
southeast of the village of Iskut. Imperial vice president Steve Robertson agreed with Day’s assessment about an opening of the mine. “I would agree with Chad that the next couple months are going to be very important because this is a time when we actually transition from being a conceptual project into being a real project which has actual real monitoring and implementation
going on,” said Robertson. “We are anticipating that we are going to be commissioning the tailings impoundment in the new year, like right after January 1,” he continued. “We feel that we’ll probably be seeking authorization to actually be doing the commissioning and have the full permit ... before the end of first quarter.”
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Hands off Thornhill, city decides
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Scoot thru FINISHED WITH her shopping for the day, Margaret Dunham steers her scooter through the drive-thru at Tim Hortons on Lakelse Ave. for a bit of afternoon refreshment on Dec. 12.
TERRACE CITY council voted Dec. 8 to “not interfere” with Thornhill’s incorporation process in which the neighbouring rural community is looking to become its own municipality. The motion was introduced by councillor Stacey Tyers, seconded by councillor Lynne Christiansen, and was adopted in a 4-3 vote in the first full council meeting since it was sworn in following November municipal elections. The motion is “that we support Area E of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine in choosing their own form of self-government and that we will not interfere.” This means that Terrace council will not request a study of amalgamation from the province until Thornhill, which is Area E in the regional district governance structure, has had a referendum on whether or not to incorporate, the tail end of a process that will take several years. Amalgamation would mean the joining of Terrace and Thornhill into a larger municipality and administration, and has been considered before though rejected years ago by Thornhill residents. The issue arose when former mayor Dave Pernarowski, who did not run again in the November municipal elections, favoured an amalgamation in one of his last addresses. Newly-sworn in mayor Carol Leclerc also spoke out in favour of a study to look at amalgamation during the election campaign. Leclerc attempted at the Dec. 8 council meeting to table Tyers’ resolution pending further thought so as not to “box ourselves in”, but council decided to go ahead with the vote.
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Art charity
Ticket to Calgary
Terrace Coyotes?
Young Terrace artists are giving to other youth using their craft \COMMUNITY B1
Air Canada announces daily direct flights to Calgary from Terrace. \NEWS A14
Three Terrace minor hockey grads are making an impact in Osoyoos \SPORTS A17