Plans for Yukon’s biggest mine delayed
Western Copper and Gold Corp. has indicated it will take a year longer to advance the proposal for its mammoth Casino mine project.
Western Copper and Gold Corp. has indicated it will take a year longer to advance the proposal for its mammoth Casino mine project.
The company indicated Friday in a press release it is delaying the submission of the environmental and socio-economic statement until the end of 2018.
Western Copper and Gold was originally scheduled to submit the statement to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board by the end of this year.
Continuing work on the design of its tailings dam and pond, along with the time it will take the Yukon government to secure permits for improvements to the access road, are cited as the two factors behind the decision to delay the submission of the statement.
The Casino mine would be the largest mine in the Yukon’s history.
It would boast production estimated at 120,000 tonnes per day, or 10 times the daily production of the former Faro lead-zinc mine.
It’s estimated it will cost an estimated $2.5 billion to bring the open pit project into production.
The company is on record as having already spent more than $20 million preparing its application.
It’s tailings dam would be among the largest in the world.
The tailings dam and facility was one of two reasons the assessment board’s executive committee decided in February 2016 to bump the project proposal up to a full panel review, the first in the board’s 12-year history.
Under the process for a panel review, the board issued the company with a list of issues it needed to address in the project proposal.
The environmental and socio-economic statement is meant to identify how long it would take the company to address all issues.
The executive committee also identified the concerns over the impact the new road into the property would have on the Klaza caribaou herd as the other factor behind the decision to elevate the project to a panel review.
The Casino project is located between Dawson and Carmacks.
The Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation has already raised serious concerns about the tailings dam and storage pond.
It hired an international engineering firm back in 2014 to assess the proposal for the tailings facility. BGC Engineering Inc. recommended the First Nation request answers to 82 specific questions.
The dam would stand 286 metres high and would span 2.5 kilometres.
The project would require an upgrade of the Freegold Road leading north from Carmacks and a new bypass to reroute traffic around Carmacks. It would also require construction of 130 kilometres of new road.
Improvements to the Freegold Road and construction of the bypass is estimated at $111 million. Construction of new road is estimated at $122 million.
The company and the Yukon and federal governments have agreed to a cost-sharing formula.
The arrangement was confirmed Sept. 2 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced funding support for the Resource Gateway Project during his trip to the Yukon.
Officials with Western Copper and Gold and the assessment board were unavailable this morning to discuss Friday’s development.
Comments (9)
Up 1 Down 0
YukonMax on Oct 1, 2017 at 12:39 pm
By the size of this operation, I say it will be a fly in mine. Fly in from where with whom aboard is another question. Where will the wages go? What will be the "REAL" spin off for the Yukon? Why couldn't they take a phase approach and start smaller?
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Miles Ocean on Sep 30, 2017 at 5:48 pm
We need the jobs for the tax base here in the Yukon.
Sure, there may be a disastrous tailings spill or tailings dam failure or a costly cleanup that lasts for decades; but the feds will pay for it and it will create many stable Yukon jobs for young people coming out of Yukon College and southern schools.
Salmon spawn in dozens of areas in the Yukon River immediately downstream of the proposed mine and some of them will likely not be poisoned if there is a major toxic spill. The silver lining is that massive destruction will be localized and some areas will be unscathed.
The mine workers will buy homes in Whitehorse which will drive up the market and we will see more quads and side by sides on the local trails until the bust cycle sets in again. We do need the mine, it's critical, because the sale of toys to mine workers which keep the retailers in Whitehorse happy.
Its all good and somewhat predictable.
Up 12 Down 6
Yukon Watchdog on Sep 29, 2017 at 1:20 pm
Boom. Bust. Boom. Bust. The cycle continues....over and over again. Let's hope the rape of our land is more protected going in than the Faro mine and BYG were. Clean up costs need to be reserved at the get-go.
Up 19 Down 0
Groucho d'North on Sep 28, 2017 at 8:06 pm
Good, more time is need for governments to get their collective sh*t together and make ready for what happens when a project of this scope appears. Number one is places for new mine workers to live, shop and play. I hope this project will be more community-centric than the 2 weeks in 2 weeks out imported mine worker program where the Yukon does not prosper as it should. Keep the money here rather than exporting it on a plane to Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary. Find some way to make family living in the Yukon more attractive and let's build OUR economy rather than for someplace else.
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Dave Evans on Sep 28, 2017 at 8:10 am
Ask yourself, is the resource being exploited to address a specific need or more likely is it about greed, essentially. Were it about the needs that could be met with a mine such as this then yes, do it. If it is about multinationals raking in money asap then no....don't do it.
In any event, the question is rhetorical. This mine is about greed with a side of patronization in the form of a numbers of jobs for locals. Many of these jobs will be long lived indeed as evidenced in Faro.
This endeavor is about deep pockets with the ability to ultimately satisfy their shareholders greed at the land's expense.
If there is a need, address it without pandering to those who seek HUGE profits via small promises. If the greed becomes obvious, which it has, tell these corps to take a hike.....maybe smell the flowers, pick some berries.
Up 24 Down 14
jc on Sep 26, 2017 at 4:58 pm
More questions: And who do you think in this huge park the tree huggers are creating is going to agree to a polluting gold smelter? And einstein, gold is used for many things and there will always be a demand for it. Since Canada's prince smiley sold off all the rest of Canada's gold reserve to pay for his welfare programs, Canada needs gold to back up our useless loonie. And by the way, are you employed with the Bureaucracy gone into overdrive?
Up 12 Down 31
more questions on Sep 25, 2017 at 7:22 pm
How many people are going to get killed on the highway with ten times the muffin trucks on a daily basis as used to come down from Faro? Are they shipping the ore out from Skagway? Where is it getting shipped to? Who's doing the value added? Why not bloody refine it here? At least you could do the value added in the territory for the mess and deaths that are going to happen. Let me qualify that, 'pretty much for sure.'
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Moe on Sep 25, 2017 at 7:19 pm
This is insane. All this destruction and risk for gold of all the stupid things. There is so much gold hoarded around the world that we'll never, ever get through it for anything useful. No, it is just speculation, greed and the foolishness of the human species.
And here I find out that this nonsense is what Trudeau announced we tax payers are going to subsidize by paying for their road. Corporate welfare factors into their business plan. Great!
A dam made of dirt and rocks that's going to last: FOREVER. Sure it will! The taxpayer will be looking after it forever, or as long as they can, (your kids, grand kids, great grandkids... you get the picture).
And for what?! So we can have a big party right now with 'all the money'. This whole thing is sick. The human race needs to grow the H up.
Up 26 Down 12
einsteins-other-half on Sep 25, 2017 at 5:03 pm
What a farce. Bureaucracy gone into overdrive.