A private company affiliated with deep pockets in London, England has submitted a project proposal for a new mine east of Ross River.

BMC Minerals filed the proposal with the executive committee of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board earlier this month.

The board confirmed in a letter to the company Monday it has begun a review of the document to determine if any additional information is required before the formal assessment begins.

Letters have also gone out to the Ross River Dena Council and the Liard First Nation requesting comments on the project proposal and to what degree they’ve consulted so far.

In its public presentations about the project and its newsletters since purchasing the Kudz Ze Kayak property in 2015, BMC has emphasized its commitment to working with the two Kaska First Nations and how it has been working closely with the Kaska.

Scott Donaldson, CEO of BMC U.K., parent company to BMC Minerals, said today BMC was actually in discussions with Ross River before it even purchased the property.

The company, he insisted, knows the importance of having local community support for projects like this.

The intent is to have a final decision in late 2019 on whether to proceed with construction, once the required permits have been obtained, he said.

Donaldson said he is, however, confident the lead-zine-copper mine will be built.

“We have worked very hard over the previous two years to make sure we have done the work that supports the development of the project, and we are very confident we will get this project into production,” Donaldson said.

He said the intent is to begin commissioning the mill in late 2021 with commercial production beginning in 2022.

Another major mining proposal is expected to arrive at the offices of the assessment board this week.

Goldcorp has indicated previously it wants to have its proposal for the Coffee gold project into the executive committee no later than Friday.

Goldcorp, a major international gold producer, has publicly committed to begin producing gold at the Coffee property by the end of 2020.

Goldcorp purchased the Coffee property from Kaminak Gold Corp. last summer.

The BMC proposal calls for a combination of open pit and underground mining, according to the project summary included in the submission to the assessment board.

It plans to process approximately 5,500 tonnes per day, or about 1,500 tonnes a day more than the optimum production at the Minto Mine.

Concentrate would be trucked the 911 kilometres down the Robert Campbell Highway and on through B.C. to the port of Stewart, just as the Wolverine Mine trucked its concentrate along the same route.

It’s expected to produce 180,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate annually, 60,000 tonnes of copper and 35,000 tonnes of lead.

The project includes upgrades to the private 24-kilometre tote road that links the Kudz Ze Kayah property to the Robert Campbell Highway, as well as upgrades to the Finlayson airstrip.

The summary describes how hiring locally would be a priority for BMC.

It discusses the benefits of employment but also notes how the company recognizes alcohol and drug abuse can flow from increased incomes.

Ensuring counselling is available to counter any issues of abuse is outlined in the project proposal.

It discusses means of addressing potential impact on local health and social services, the potential impact on wildlife and other aspects of theenvironment.

Donaldson said BMC has spent about $25 million US over the last two years preparing its submission to the assessment board.

The Kudz Ze Kayah property was originally permitted in the 1990s by Cominco.

That company eventually sold it to Teck, but Teck never went forward with the mine. BMC purchased the property from Teck.

Preparation of the submission to the assessment board included going through all the material supporting the original permitting of the project, Donaldson said.

He said the cost of building the mine is estimated at $426 million Cdn.

It’s expected there would be about 400 people employed during construction and approximately 400 employed during production, he said.