THUNDER BAY – The Seabridge KSM Project in British Columbia is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world. Proven and probable reserves total 38.2 million ounces of gold and 9.9 billion pounds of copper.
The project has just been granted approval by the British Columbia government.
In 2013, Seabridge found a new deposit, the Deep Kerr, which has the highest metal values discovered at KSM to date. An initial resource estimate for Deep Kerr released in early 2014 confirmed an inferred resource of 515 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper and 0.36 g/T gold (6.1 billion pounds of copper and 5.9 million ounces of gold). The deposit is ideally situated for cost-effective underground mining and the size and grade compare favourably with the world’s best producing copper/gold mines.
The current price of an ounce of gold is $1,195.29 (US) that puts the potential of the project at $3,824,928,000.00 for the gold alone.
On Friday, Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, announced that the proposed KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project, is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects when the mitigation measures described in the Comprehensive Study Report are taken into account.
The Project has been referred back to the responsible authorities, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Natural Resources Canada, for appropriate action.
The Minister has also issued a Project Recommendation under the Nisga’a Final Agreement (NFA) that includes provisions to mitigate adverse environmental effects on the Nisga’a Nation.
In reaching her decision and making her recommendation, the Minister considered the Comprehensive Study Report and the comments received from the public, the Nisga’a Nation and other Aboriginal groups on the report.
This project was assessed using a science-based approach in accordance with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The Project was also subject to requirements under the NFA, a modern treaty signed by the governments of Canada, British Columbia and the Nisga’a Nation.
