In just the last three years, three of the world’s top 10 largest mining giants have bought into B.C. through mergers and acquisitions, including Glencore and Anglo American.
One of those top 10 players is Newmont, the world’s largest gold mining company, with a market cap of US$126 billion.
For B.C., attracting heavyweights like Newmont, Glencore and Anglo American underscores the confidence global investors have in B.C. as a mining Mecca.
“The global mining sector is taking notice of B.C.’s mining potential — just ask Anglo American,” Mining Association of BC (MABC) president Michael Goehring said at the Natural Resources forum in Prince George last month.
“When we think about northwest B.C., we’re extremely excited about the jurisdiction,” David Thornton, Newmont’s managing director for the Americas, said in an interview at the recent AME Roundup conference.
“It’s one of those under-explored areas that have great potential, especially in the copper space. I think 75% of Canada’s copper sits in that triangle.”
Newmont’s global portfolio of 12 operating mines includes two B.C. mines: Brucejack and the Red Chris copper-gold mine.
Newmont has big plans for Red Chris — a $3 billion block cave mining project that will extend the life of the mine by another decade.
Newmont also owns a 50% share, along with Teck Resources (soon to be Anglo Teck), in the Galore Creek project.
That project is said to be one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold-silver projects of its kind.
The timing of Galore Creek’s development depends to a great extent on power. It is one of the projects for which the BC government and BC Hydro are building the $6 billion North Coast Transmission line.
Newmont is currently laser focused on Red Chris, which the company acquired, along with Brucejack, when it bought Newcrest Mining for $23 billion in 2023.
Red Chris mine makes Major Projects Office list
The Red Chris expansion is one of five mine projects across Canada that is on the federal government’s Major Projects Office list.
“This major expansion project will extend the lifespan of the mine by over a decade, increase Canada’s annual copper production by over 15%, employ about 1,500 workers during operations, with a peak of approximately 1,800 workers during construction,” the Major Projects office notes.
Located 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake, Red Chris has been in operation for more than 10 years now and has only a few years of mine life in it as an open-pit operation. It is expected to be depleted in 2028.
Open pit mines are typically built to get at veins that are closer to the surface. To get at deeper veins, mining companies need to go underground.
But rather than go underground in the traditional fashion, Newmont is planning a block cave mining approach. Block cave mining is a bit like an upside down open pit mine, except that it is underground.
In conventional underground ming, a warren of declines and shafts are developed incrementally, all while making money on the ore extraction.
With block cave mining, all of the underground work has to be done up front before you even start making a dime.
A large cavern is created underneath the ore body, and mining and processing equipment is located underground. The ceiling is then gradually collapsed, bringing the ore down, where it is then crushed before being moved to the surface.
It’s a highly capital intensive approach, but once it is in place, it allows for very large volumes of ore extraction.
“Normally, you would decline down, and as you open each of the levels up you’re producing ore and value and generating cash as soon as you start,” Thornton explained.
“In a block cave, you have to sink a significant portion of the capital. But once it’s in place, you generate significant cash at a really low cost. You can move large volumes of material that are lower grade at a much lower cost per tonne of mining.”
Thornton confirmed the project’s capital costs are estimated at approximately $3 billion.
High paying jobs for Tahltan First Nation
Red Chris is subject to a Section 7 consent-based decision making agreement between the provincial government and the Tahltan First Nation. As such, an amendment to Red Chris’ environmental certificate will be needed to give the project the regulatory green light.
Thornton said that is expected, followed by a final investment decision, in the second half of this year.
Between the open pit mine winding down and the new block cave operation going into production in the early 2030s, there will be a production gap of two to three years, Thornton said.
The project experienced a setback last summer after a cave-in that trapped three Hy-Tech Drilling workers underground for a couple of days in an underground access. Some of the early underground work had to be halted while the incident was investigated.
“We’ve completed the remediation work and have gone around that area of fall-of-ground and are now back into the mine decline again,” Thornton said. “The investigation is complete, and ultimately, for us, the learnings were making sure that we have the right ground support in place.”
The Red Chris mine is an important economic anchor for the Tahltan First Nation, employing more than 200 Tahltan members, and generating $100 million annually for the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC).
“These are great paying jobs,” said TNDC CEO Todd den Engelsen. “They’re north of $100,000 per year, and in many cases some are pushing 200 grand a year.”
Underground mining demands some different skillsets from open-pit mining, so some retraining will be needed, as the mine moves underground.
“The machinery is different, so we’ll be involved in retooling our employees,” den Engelsen said.
Some employees may choose not to go underground and may shift to other mines in the region.
“Those that want to go underground, we will put together a training program with some of our partners to get them retooled to work underground,” den Engelsen said. “There’s transferable skills, for sure, but it’s a different environment.
“Not only are we creating jobs, we’re creating new jobs – new technical skillsets that we haven’t developed yet.”
