Estimates are that if Trekor Metals' Yellowhead copper project's were developed into a mine, it would increase Canada's copper production by 16 per cent
By Derrick Penner
The B.C. mining company that operates Canada’s second-largest open-pit copper mine has started the path to develop its next major project in the province 150 kilometres northeast of Kamloops in the Interior.
B.C.’s environmental regulator has accepted the application of Trekor Metals, formerly known as Taseko Mines, to start an assessment of its Yellowhead copper project, an open-pit copper, gold and silver mine with a capacity up to 90,000 tonnes per day of ore over a 25-year mine life.
Ottawa will also accept results of the provincial environmental assessment under its “one project, one review” agreement in B.C., but it will take place alongside an assessment process by the Simpcw First Nation, on whose territory the deposit is located.
Trekor estimates a mine, if it goes ahead, would produce two million tonnes of copper over its life, along with 282,000 ounces of gold and 19.4 million ounces of silver, supporting 525 direct jobs at its site, near the rural community of Vavenby.
The development would also add a new, so-called greenfield copper mine to major expansion projects either underway or awaiting final investment decisions in B.C. during a mining boom for the critical mineral.
“Future production from Yellowhead would establish Trekor as one of the largest copper producers in North America,” company vice-president Sean Magee said in an email response to Postmedia questions.
With an estimated average of 81,000 tonnes per year of copper production, Magee called Yellowhead “Canada’s leading critical minerals development opportunity in copper.”
Trekor’s flagship operation is its Gibraltar mine, some 200 km northwest of the Yellowhead property, and new production if the mine proceeds would increase the company’s output by some 85 per cent, Magee said.
An economic impact study by the consulting firm MNP, commissioned by Trekor, estimated that Yellowhead’s copper output alone would increase Canada’s overall production by 16 per cent.
Mining Association of B.C. executive Tim McEwan referred to the Yellowhead project as “a very significant mine development,” among a half-dozen major mine expansion projects that have either been approved or are in the works, including Teck Resources’ $2.1 billion mine-life extension project at its Highland Valley copper mine.
“What we’re talking about is a $2 billion investment,” said McEwan.
Assuming it goes into production, the Yellowhead mine would generate $1 billion in economic output across Canada, $750 million of that within the Thompson-Nicola region where it is located, according to an economic impact study commissioned by Trekor.
Trekor, while still operating as Taseko, bought the Yellowhead development project — which has an exploration history that dates back to the 1960s — from junior mining firm Yellowhead Mining for $16 million in 2019.
Magee said the company recognized a “strong fit with the company’s existing operations.”
The prospect of new long-term economic activity holds a considerable amount of appeal in a region that has suffered from a downturn in forestry, according to Usoff Tsao, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District director that represents Vavenby.
“We’re talking about potentially an influx of up to 600 full-time jobs for 25 years,” Tsao said.
The village lost 172 jobs in 2019 when Canfor Corp. closed a sawmill in Vavenby. The community now has a population of only about 300.
Tsao said Vavenby, within a region of about 4,000 people, including the town of Clearwater, experienced a welcome boom from construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.
He added there are long-term residents of the region who have reservations about mining, mostly due to exploration for uranium in decades past, before B.C. banned mining for the element.
