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British Columbia’s Golden Triangle Mining District

David Eby’s green goals at odds with his plan to fast-track B.C. mines – by Rob Shaw (National Post – February 27, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

He’s going full steam ahead with his plan to harness critical minerals — despite Indigenous and environmentalist resistance

Deep in deficit, wrestling with a stalled economy and under the threat of American tariffs, B.C.’s eco-focused New Democratic government has turned to an unlikely economic ally: the mining sector.

Premier David Eby has peppered his speeches over the last two months with support for new and expanded mines. His government is poised to introduce legislation within weeks to fast-track at least four major mining projects, with the rationale they’ll generate much-needed jobs and revenue.

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Amarc stock doubles on gold-copper find at JOY in BC – by Staff (Northern Miner – January 20, 2025)

Global mining news

Amarc Resources (TSXV: AHR; US-OTC: AXREF) has more than doubled its share price after announcing a high-grade discovery at its JOY copper-gold project in north-central British Columbia.

The discovery resulted from initial drilling of the Northwest Gossan (NWG) target area, located at the end of a possible 15-km mineralized trend within the 495-sq.-km JOY district that had not been previously drill tested. Work programs are being fully funded by copper giant Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), which could earn an interest in the JOY project while Amarc serves as the program operator.

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Looking ahead in B.C. and Yukon – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – December 16, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Recent strong gold and metal prices have many mine-makers looking to western Canada for opportunity

Seemingly, North Americans look to the west for opportunity. And when we in Canda look left, we see British Columbia and Yukon. Opportunities abound there for miners, so let us jump in. Where better to begin than with one of the world’s largest copper, gold, and silver resources all wrapped up in the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project belonging to Seabridge Gold.

With reorganization and a new focus on gold, the company bought what is now the KSM project from Placer Dome in 2000. The property is located 65 km northwest of Smithers, B.C. Exploration began in earnest in 2006, and by 2010 a prefeasibility study (PFS) was released estimating there were 8.5 million oz. of gold, 7 billion lb. of copper, and 133 million oz. of silver in the ground.

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B.C. environmental group files judicial review to challenge Northwest gold mine project – by Quinn Bender (Terrace Standard – December 2, 2024)

https://www.terracestandard.com/

The filing is the second petition in a week against the major gold-copper mine in B.C.’s “Golden Triangle”

A coalition of environmental groups has launched a legal challenge against the province’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), contending the proposed KSM mine in Northwest B.C. does not meet the criteria for a “substantial start.”

Ecojustice, representing SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), filed the petition, arguing the mine’s environmental assessment is outdated and poses significant ecological and cultural risks.

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New Indigenous-owned mining royalty company a first in Canada – by Amanda Stephenson (Canadian Press/CTV News – November 17, 2024)

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/

In June of this year, a new company called Nations Royalty Corp. began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange. With minimum fanfare, the new company quietly hit a milestone on the road to Indigenous economic reconciliation in this country, becoming the only mining royalty company in the world that is majority-owned by Indigenous people.

Backed by billionaire Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra, Nations Royalty aims to lure investors with the promise of exposure to Indigenous-owned royalties, which company executives say is the last untapped pool in Canada.

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Canada, BC invest in Golden Triangle roads – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – July 16, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Governments commit C$195 million to improving highway infrastructure in critical minerals-rich Northern BC.

Heralded as a win for First Nations residents and the mining industry in Northern British Columbia, the federal and provincial governments are investing C$195 million (US$142.6 million) to upgrade highway infrastructure in the critical minerals-enriched Golden Triangle.

“The Northwest BC Highway Corridor Improvements Project will benefit a critical mineral region and First Nations partners,” said B.C. Minister of Transportation Pablo Rodriguez. “It will also improve transportation safety, reliability and access to essential services, and reinforce our government’s commitment to a net-zero future.”

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[B.C. Mining] ‘To us, that border doesn’t exist’ – by Nathan Venderklippe (Globe and Mail – April 19, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alaska Indigenous groups want a say in B.C. mining projects they fear could hurt their livelihoods. A border stands in the way – but they hope a Canadian court ruling strengthens the case for ignoring it

Eulachon grease meets the tongue with a marine burn, a bracing tang extracted by fermenting great numbers of the smelt-like fish, then simmering and breaking them apart. The process liberates the fish’s oil, which historically formed a kind of currency among the Indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest, who traded it as a valuable source of fat.

Today, those still able to find it in southeast Alaska apply it as a condiment to boiled potatoes, herring eggs or kajumps, a fish soup. “That’s real gold there,” Louie Wagner says, as he eyes a jar of the grease he keeps frozen, its contents a light tawny yellow. “Gold you can eat.”

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Alaskan tribes seek historic legal recognition from B.C. gov’t for review of mining project – by Caitrin Pilkington (CBC News Canada North – February 07, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Coalition wants to be part of environmental review for Eskay Creek gold mine

An Alaska-based coalition of Indigenous governments has applied to be part of a B.C. environmental review process. Representatives of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission say they’re concerned about the environmental impacts of a proposed project that would see work resume at Eskay Creek, a former open-pit gold mine. The mine, which mining company Skeena Resources hopes to revive, lies about 85 kilometres northwest of Stewart, B.C.

Skeena’s proposal would see workers make use of some of the old mine’s existing facilities, extracting up to three million tonnes of gold and silver ore per year. The proposed mine would be in operation for nine years.

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British Columbia’s Nisga’a Nation plans Indigenous-majority owned royalty company – by Blair McBride (Mining.com – February 1, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The Nisga’a Nation in northwest BC is forming Canada’s largest Indigenous-majority owned public royalty company, demonstrating the increasing power of First Nations in resource development.

A new agreement announced Thursday gives the Nisga’a a majority stake in the newly formed Nations Royalty. Vega Mining will acquire from the Nisga’a the rights to five existing annual benefit payment entitlements with projects in the Golden Triangle, in exchange for common shares in Vega’s capital. The privately-owned Vega — about which little public information is available — will be renamed Nations Royalty Corp.

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B.C. and Tahltan Nation sign agreement requiring consent for changes to mine (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – November 1, 2023)

https://vancouversun.com/

The agreement means substantial changes to the existing environmental assessment certificate for the Red Chris mine can only proceed with Tahltan approval.

A new agreement between the province and an Indigenous government in northern B.C. will require the nation’s consent ahead of any significant changes at a major copper and gold mine.

Chad Norman Day, president of the Tahltan Central Government, says the agreement means substantial changes to the existing environmental assessment certificate for the Red Chris mine can only proceed with Tahltan approval.

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COMMENTARY: It’s time for U.S. government to hold Canada accountable for transboundary river impacts in Alaska – by Brenda Schwartz-Yeager (Alaska Beacon – August 16, 2023)

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Two years ago this fall, I testified at a Wrangell Borough Assembly meeting in support of yet another resolution calling on the U.S. federal government to be firm with British Columbia and Canada in protecting the Stikine River, as well as the Taku and Unuk rivers.

These transboundary rivers, the lifeblood of Southeast Alaska, are threatened by the more than 30 B.C. gold mines in some phase of development just over the border. Over a dozen of them are located within the Stikine-Iskut watershed.

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Time for Canada to fix its First Nations Problem – by John Kaiser (Kaiser Watch Podcast – August 11, 2023)

https://www.kaiserresearch.com/

Why did FPX Nickel drop sharply on Wednesday?

FPX Nickel Corp released a vague Aug 9, 2023 Update on its 2012 MOU with Tl’azt’en Nation which the market didn’t really understand until it tracked down the publication referred to by FPX, Dust’Lus Talo ‘Ooza’ August 2023, a monthly newsletter of the Tl’azt’en Nation.

Page 4 contained a declaration by Chief Leslie Aslin, elected in June 2022, that after more than a decade of collecting from FPX Nickel whatever benefits accrued from the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding, the Tl’azt’en Nation has decided it is unequivocally against development of Baptiste, which would become the world’s first awaruite based nickel mine in a secure jurisdiction, possibly with a zero carbon footprint, producing more than 4 decades of “clean” nickel relative to the dirty nickel Indonesia and Russia supplies (double that if Van is developed).

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These are 11 of B.C.’s most ‘polluting and risky’ mines – by Francesca Fionda (The Narwhal – May 25, 2023)

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Mining is big business in B.C. and it’s an industry that produces a lot of waste. A new report highlights 11 mines of concern and what’s stopping the province from getting them to clean up their acts

Chief Francis Laceese of Tl’esqox describes the Gibraltar mine as a “disaster waiting to happen.” Located about 60 kilometres north of Williams Lake, B.C., it’s the fourth-largest open-pit mine in North America. Laceese’s Tsilqot’in community, Tl’esqox, is directly downstream.

The Gibraltar copper mine is among B.C.’s most polluting and high risk mines, according to a report released today by SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and BC Mining Law Reform Network. Eleven mines are listed based on their proven or probable impacts to the environment, unsafe management of tailings waste, non-compliance with environmental permits and violations of Indigenous Rights.

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Newmont set to become a major player in Canadian mining with $19.5 billion deal for Newcrest – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – May 15, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

B.C.’s Golden Triangle will be key for world’s largest gold producer

British Columbia is set to become a key mining destination for Newmont Corp., as the world’s largest gold producer inked an agreement on May 15 to take over Australia’s largest gold company, Newcrest Mining Ltd., for about US$19.5 billion.

The agreement, which is subject to shareholder approval, will increase Newmont’s presence in B.C.’s “Golden Triangle,” the loosely defined region in northwestern B.C. that has been a favourite of prospectors seeking gold and copper since the 19th century. Nearly 150 mines have operated in the region over that time.

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Crown lawyer suggests negotiations process if province loses mining claims challenge – by Bob Mackin (Business In Vancouver – April 14, 2023)

https://biv.com/

The Gitxaala Nation wants the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn mineral claims granted between 2018 and 2020 on Banks Island because it says there was no consultation

If a B.C. Supreme Court judge rules in favour of the First Nation challenging B.C.’s online mining claims program, a lawyer for the provincial government says the court should order the two sides to negotiate a new system.

The Gitxaala Nation, based in Kitkatla, wants the court to overturn mineral claims the province granted between 2018 and 2020 on Banks Island because it says there was no consultation. Gitxaala lawyers say that breached the Crown’s constitutional duty to First Nations and was contrary to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which B.C. adopted in 2019.

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