Although northern B.C. is loaded with substantial copper deposits, PRM is not

_ yoking the smelter to B.C. copper mine development. Taylor says the logistics would .

_ be impossible. The smelter will provide a contract smelting and refining service in
accordance with business deals made between the producing mines .and the
manufacturers who _ Be SS Co
purchase the finished copper. The company decided on Kitimat due to its location at . °:
tidewater on Pacific Rim shipping lanes, the availability of electricity and the District «~ “

- of Kitimat’s attitude toward the development. Taylor also noted that Kitimat is within
economic shipping distance of a cheap source of carbon — coke from Alberta — that .-
is essential for the reduction of sulphur a ee
dioxide captured from the refining
process into elemental sulphur.. The.
sale of sulphur is fundamental to the
economics of the smelter, = = >.

Although the smelter will not be
dependent on B.C. copper production, -

‘Taylor believes development of copper
mines in northern B.C. is eventually
gding to go. "I think in a very few years —
things will settle down. There: is so
much copper in B.C. I'd really like to.
see them comeon." :

yy

\ \ hile gold is the stuff that grabs. |;
the imagination and the mineral that.
attracted nearly all the intensive ex-
ploration in the Northwest over the
past decade, copper may bea more
likely commodity with ‘staying power

- for the mining industry in this region. -
The gold rush of the 1980's. out-
lined the geology of the northwest
corner of B.C. in greater detail than all
-the prospecting and exploration of
previous. decades put together. Gold
was the quick fix that junior mining De,
companies and their stock exchange . .
players were locking for, one reason being the mystique and overall price stability of
the precious metal, another being the relative ease of selling a company in the mine
development business on a gold mine rather than something more ambitious, long:
term and expensive, like, say, a bulk tonnage copper mine. . any

- Wherever gold was found, the assays. generally showed copper as well. And unlike _
gold, for which analysts have given up making forecasts, copper appears to have a > ;
future of steady. demand growth, diminishing supplies of ore and shrinking smelter |
capacity world-wide. . oS | : _ _

For the immediate present there is no stampede to develop northwest copper
deposits, a consequence of uncertainty in mining economics, obstacles to raising capital, _
‘and queasiness in the industry surrounding land use issues in British Columbia. But |.
the mineral is there. . an Ce OF oe
Placer Dome recently backed out of Mount Milligan, north-northeast of Prince
George, after a large and long investment — about $200 ‘million — in intensive
exploration. At the conclusion estimated reserves for the deposit stood at 400 million _
tons of ore grading an average .2% copper and .48 grams per ton of gold. Further to
the northeast; El Condor Resources has entered the Kemess South and Kemess North
projects into the Mine Development Review Process. Estimated reserves for Kemess -
South is 229 million tons grading .23% copper and .651 grams per ton of gold, Kemess ~
North 116 million tons at .19% copper and .377 grams per ton of gold. :

‘

+ .
‘

Taylor, partner Enemark: Sumitomo smiles.

i

!

‘Terrace Review — April 16, 1992