Skyline gold mine fo re-open | ‘TERRACE — ‘Skyline Gold hopes to be milling ore al its rejuvenated Johnny Mountain ‘gold mine in the Iskut Valley by early September. Company president Cliff Grandison late last week said the company was expecting official provincia] approval at any time. The mine: closed because: of -: . Subsidiary of Cheni Gold which used to operate a mine in the * Toodoggone, ‘is to be thé ‘opera- poor ore in 1990 and Skyline ex- perienced a heavy debt load. "Skyline went through @ restruc- turing early this year and em- barked upon a drilling program to find and prove more reserves. That’s resulted in mineable reserves of 26,000 tonnes but more is fo come when new results are announced shortly, said Grandison. This time Skyline will be doing things a. bit differently — it’s hired one company to be the on site and mill operator and another to do the underground mining. Sturdes. Management Inc, a tor, It has a three-month contract. Tonto Mining is the underground outfit, As many as 70 people are ex- pected to be employed ut the site, Grandison said $300,000 was spent in refurbishing the mill mothballed in 1990, ‘He'expects to mill an average 350 tonnes per day. That's enough for approximately 60 days at the mineable reserves now ready for milling. “This won’t be an all year- round operation. We'll be work- ing when weather permits,”’ said Grandison. The: ‘company is-using Smithers as an air base for its main sup- plies and will be getting fuel from Wrangell, Alaska. Skyline is aiso planning a drill- THE SHAMES VALLEY has been abuzz this summer, The sound has been from the rotors of the giant yellow Sikorsky helicopter seen. above. The. chopper was. busy ferrying logs from the hillsides as Skeena Cellulose carried heli-logging in the valley. For stories and more photos, see page AS. ing program this year of an ad- jacent area it believes has poten- tial for a low grade copper and gold mince. **We’re looking al a major pro- ject next year if what we're doing this year proves out,’ said Grandison of the drilling, The prospect of favourable tesults there caused Grandison to state the province should consider spending money to exteid the [s- kut road. “"We know money Is light, but the mining industry does offer high taxable income and it would help with employment,’’ he said. TERRACE — The closing date for the Hbrary expansion tenders has been delayed again. Tenders were duc tomorrow but plans weren’t done on time for contractors interested in bidding and a new date of Sept. 21 ltas been set. The tenders were first put out Aug. 9 with the expectation the plans would be ready by then. This latest of several delays since the beginning of the year has library board chairman Willy Schneider angry and doubtful of a construction start this year. ‘*What I really think I’d rather not say,”’ said Schneider last week. _ “We're coming right into the most awkward time of the year to build, The winter is the most ex- pensive time of the year to build. This is another delay and we know costs aren’t going to go down.” Schnelder characterized the }i- . brary’ board’s’ motale’ as “good “a though he admitted to being “utterly frustrated.’? “That’s my personal feeling. I’ve never been involved in any- fore,’”’ he said. Schneider recalled that the TERRACE — A gang of thieves prowling the downtown core has police and business owners on the look out. Police recorded at least 14 inci- dents of businesses being broken into last week. But the number of businesses actually hit is: much higher than that. Several businesses atop the Credit Union building were broken into, but RCMP count it _-as a single incident involving one -building. Likewise for several break-ins against businesses in ‘the Trigo building. the month of July — a 12.5 per cent increase over last year. As of Aug. 18 there had been 28 break-ins. (his month, for a to- tal of 258 so far this year, ‘sI’s out of control,” sald Ter- race chamber of commerce presi- dent Sharan Taylor. ‘*Something has to be done about it.’? | But RCMP Staff Sergeant John Veldman says people shouldn't blow the situation out of propor- tion, _ “It’s not unusual to have a rash like this,’’ he said. ; Less than a thousand dollars cash was taken in the 14 incidents last week, Veldman said. thing as frustrating as this be-- board first proposed the expan- — Police recorded 41 break-ins in. Money for Skyline Gold’s new life this comes from a $2.6 mil- lion debt restructuring completed in the spring by ago by Ron Shon, principal shareholder. One of his companies owns the Skeena Mall. Skyline Gold experienced prob- lems when it first opened in Au- gust 1988. The kind of ore ex- pected did not materialize and wasn’t suited for the mill that was constructed. Shon took over Skyline Gold and the mill was Tenovaled to handle the ore. But reserves then became depleted and the compa- ny lost more money when lhe sion project in November 1988, There is stil] no guarantee the addition will go ahead even after the tenders are returned, That’s because the library board and the city will wait to first see what kind of estimates come back, Some kind of cost estimate is important because the library board may not have snough money for the project. The prospect’ of not having enough money first arose last year, Although city and area tax- payers have approved borrowing $1.235 million, an expected $600,000 lottery grant shelved when the provincial government shelved the program. The borrowing and grant were based on an approximate cost of $1.7 million. Since then the library board has trimmed the project and the tender-request fits the new design. The key to the new design is the deletion of a finished basement. All that is wanted is an unfinished one,’ But the. main floor size, 10,000 square feet, is the same as the original proposal. Information from, the library board’s architect, Soutar and As- “Tn fact they haven’ done very well at all,’? he said. ‘“The bigs ‘gest problem has been the damage to the property as a result of entry." - Some owners who don’t make sure their doors are locked ask for trouble, he added;, “The business community is going to have to- get little smarter,” Veldman sald. ‘When I see some of these businesses leaving their doors open over- “Was ~ price of gold fell. The mine employed 100 people al the time of its closure. It was the first mine in the Iskut . Valley. Cominco’s Snip mine, ‘which opened in late 1990, is the second to operate there. “Placer Dome injected some cash into Skyline after the 1990 Closure announcement for | an Cx- ploralion program. oe “Tt. -dldn’t-- explore © that<-zone - found toward the. end but looked elsewhere on the property. - Placer conducted «drilling. in 1990. and 1991 and then’ pulled out, ERRACE STANDARD Library expansion set back one more time Willy Schneider soclates, indicates the building cost at $1.15 million, site work al $30,000, sccurity system at. $15,000, shelving at $35,000 and bullt-ins such as work stalions at $70,000. ... The unfinished basoiet ‘would cost: $150,000 «for. a, total ° projected cost of $1.45 million, ; There is also provision in the tender documents for 2 12-foot wide strip running the length of the building at an anticipated cost of $75,000, making for a final cost of $1,525 million. Downtown core target for break, enter gang ‘night, I get stared.’’ Veldman said RCMP believe there is an active group of thieves working the downtown. “Tt would: almost appear thal they’re targeting businesses that aren’t alarmed,” he said. . ‘We've slepped up our foot patrols in. the downtown area,’ Veldman said, adding, “We're working on some leads."’ _ There’ has been a boost in sales for security firms. Business owner _ nearly gets his man TERRACE — A would-be thief narrowly escaped capture when caught in the act of breaking Into Ironworks gym last week. Tronworks owner, Dick Ladouceur said he’ had come back ‘to the gym around 10:30 p.m. to cash out after the gym had closed - for the night. He found the lock on the door had been tampered with and. he was unable to open it with his key, 5 Ladouceur went home to get a second key‘ and e@ pair. of pliers and this time returned to find the Thunderstruck | ¢ They’re coming back and the stage: will pe alive, - "COMMUNITY ¢ BL culprit at the front door. “He was prying my. double . doors apart with two tire irons,”, he said. A chase ensued and the man ran up the street past the B,C. Tel buiiding. - *] just about caught: him but he was a little too fast on his feet, ” Ladouceur said. _ He now says he feels he may ¥ be forced to get an alarm sysiem. : “}'m going to have no alterna- tive. Either Pve got to sleep here or it’s just a matter of time before they pet in here”