For the second time, the province and the Tahltan Central Government have come to a consent agreement on a northwestern B.C. mining project.
The agreement, signed Nov. 1 in Vancouver, will allow Newcrest Mining to seek approval to vastly expand the lifespan of its Red Chris gold-copper-silver mine in B.C.鈥檚 鈥淕olden Triangle鈥� by developing a block-caving operation.
Under the province鈥檚 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) 鈥� which is based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 鈥� resource projects require the free, prior and informed consent of First Nations affected by them.
It means the environmental assessments, permitting and approvals for the mine expansion will be a collaborative effort between B.C.鈥檚 Environmental Assessment Office and the Tahltan.
鈥淭his agreement is nothing new for us as Tahltan people,鈥� said Chad Norman Day, president of the Tahltan Central Government.
鈥淚t only affirms what we鈥檝e known all along, which is that when there鈥檚 major development in Tahltan territory, the world, the province, industry, they require our consent. And if we鈥檙e to work together and thrive together, the province and the Tahltan Nation and industry is always going to have to come together in a respectful way to really honour and give life to the words of reconciliation.鈥�
In 2021, B.C., the Tahltan Nation and the proponents of the Red Chris project and the Skeena Resources鈥� Eskay Creek project, began negotiations under Section 7 of DRIPA.
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In 2022, the Eskay Creek Revitalization Project became the first consent-based agreement in history under the legislation.
According to Marie Quock, chief councillor of the Iskut band, on whose land Red Chris is situated, this agreement goes a long way toward peace of mind that the land will be protected.
鈥淚 know that our community is pleased with this agreement because we now have certainty where we didn鈥檛 before,鈥� she said.
Environment Minister George Heyman said it is 鈥渋ncredibly meaningful鈥� to see what was just an idea in 2019 when DRIPA was created come to fruition in the form of actual consent agreements.
鈥淭hrough new processes that we are co-creating, the Tahltan people and the province as a whole will benefit from Tahltan stewardship of the land,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we all benefit from these and other acts of reconciliation.鈥�
Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin added that this is just the beginning.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing this work that鈥檚 never been done before, under the auspices of a statute that鈥檚 never been done 鈥� we were the first jurisdiction in North America to do this,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to say it鈥檚 just the start because there鈥檚 many more relationship agreements of this sort that we are going to work on together with the Tahltan, because we鈥檝e been able to forge such a strong partnership.鈥�
Block-caving is a relatively new mining technique that is far more efficient than conventional underground mining making ore bodies previously deemed uneconomical for extraction more feasible.
Red Chris produced its first copper concentrate in 2015 and the lifespan of the mine was projected to be around 28 years.
In 2019, the Australian gold-mining giant Newcrest acquired a 70-per-cent stake in the operation in a joint-venture with Imperial Metals. Shortly thereafter, it began a pre-feasibility study for the block-cave operation.
Estimates currently peg the new resource at approximately 480 million tonnes. The company intends to process approximately 12.8 million tonnes per year, which would extend the mine life by 31 years.
Newcrest expects the expansion to cost $2.6 billion with a payback on the investment within 3.2 years.
Editor鈥檚 note: A previous version of this story unintentionally implied the agreement was approval for the block cave operation, rather than the ability to seek approval.
thom.barker@blackpress.ca
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