Tagish Lake Gold is moving forward with its plan to re-open the Skukum Creek gold and silver property in the Wheaton River Valley.

The company held open houses at the Mount Lorne and the Carcross community centres this week to explain its proposal to have the property into production by mid-2008.

Tagish Lake Gold president Robert Rodger said Wednesday concerns raised by area residents include the increased volume of traffic along the Annie Lake Road, and the possibility of any contamination seeping into the Wheaton River.

The project, he pointed out, will be subject to a full environmental review that will not allow the company to proceed if there is any threat of contamination, or if the proposal is substandard in any form.

Tagish Lake Gold is proposing to implement a busing system to bring employees into the mine site from Whitehorse, Carcoss and areas in between to minimize traffic flow, Rodger said.

'We are confident we are going to go ahead,' he said in an interview Wednesday. 'The things we need to do is have all the resource numbers, the information or data for the people who are going to make the financing decisions.'

Rodger expects a decision on whether to pursue production financing will be made in the first quarter of next year.

The company is in the midst of completing this year's additional underground exploration and expansion work, as well as environmental assessment studies, the cost of which is approximately $4.5 million.

Rodger said about $3 million will be required to complete the work necessary to finalize the feasibility study that will be presented to potential investors.

The company has announced previously an arrangement with an international financing company, Macquarie Bank Ltd. of Australia, to provide $2 million of the money required to complete the feasibility study.

Under the arrangement, Macquarie has also committed to search for several million dollars in debt financing as a portion of the $31 million Tagish Lake Gold will need to raise to bring Skukum Creek into production, he said.

The preliminary feasibility study indicated the Skukum Creek project was feasible with gold prices at $450 US an ounce and and silver at $7 US, he pointed out. (Gold is selling today for $595 US and silver for $12.06 US.)

A key component of the proposal will be expanding the capacity at the existing mill, which was operated by the former Mount Skukum gold mine in the late 1980s, from 300 tonnes per day to 900, he said.

Once in production, Rodger pointed out, the Skukum Creek mine will employ between 140 and 150 workers, working two shifts per day at the mine site and three shifts per day at the mill.

Rodger said he expects to file the environmental assessment work by the end of this year.

Mount Lorne MLA Steve Cardiff said it's early into the public process, but he suspects there will be area residents in support of the proposal, and those opposed.

Some will welcome the project and the improvements to road maintenance, and the opportunity of hooking into the electrical grid and telephone service if the mine decides to tie into the grid, said the NDP's acting leader.

Cardiff said there may be others, however, who have chosen the rural lifestyle, off the electrical grid, who may not cherish the idea of staring at the power transmission line. There are likely those who would rather run their dogs up and down the road than see it groomed down to gravel, he said.

Cardiff said with the proposal still subject to a full review and public scrutiny through the YESAA process, there will be opportunities to address issues of concern, and propose means of minimizing impacts.

He is particularly interested in ensuring Tagish Lake Gold enters into a benefits agreement with the Carcross-Tagish First Nation, and is prepared to provide the necessary technical training to maximize benefits for area residents who would eventually be able to transfer those skills to other jobs.

Justin Ferbey, lands officer with the first nation, said Carcross-Tagish has had preliminary discussions with Tagish Lake about signing a memorandum of understanding to enter into discussion regarding impact benefit agreement.

Those discussions are continuing, he said, emphasizing that any MOU would have to be approved by the chief and council before anything could happen.

Tagish Lake Gold owns a number of mineral properties in the Wheaton River Valley, including the former Mount Skukum property that was producing gold from 1986 to 1988.