Page AB — Tartace Standard, Wednesday, July 11, 1890. HOUSING IS already in place as Cominco now begins work con- structing the mill for ore from its SNIP gold property in the Iskut Valley. It’s scheduled to begin production next January and will then cleared in the winter. employ 150 people. Ore will be taken from underground and through a tunnel. That means a road won't have to be built and Cominco to pour Iskut gold| by beginning of next year TERRACE — Cominco will be producing gold at its SNIP mine in the Iskut Valley by January of next year, says the manager of the operation. Merlyn Royea said 300 tonnes a day of ore will be milled from underground workings and that the operation will have a life ex- pectancy of nine years. . A workforce of 150 will be rotated in three shifts using the Smithers airport as a staging base. As-well, the company will fly in miners from airports nearest to their homes to Smithers for ‘the flight to. the . Pet ee ee nfinesite. The production decision an- nouncement, made last week, ends a four-year concentrated effort at the property in the gold-rich Iskut area, Yet Cominco has been in- terested in the property for some time, said Royea. **Cominco first staked claims in the area in the 1930s, But it was too remote and they were looking for copper at any rate,” he said, More staking was done in the early 1980s but extensive ex- ploration and development - work didn’t start until 1986. Royea said the Smithers air- port was chosen over the one here as a base from which to fly workers to the Bronson airstrip near the mine because of its peformance record during winter months. “We've been very up front with people in both towns. The Smithers airport has much -bet- ter use rate. It wasn't efficient _ to use both, so we had to pick one and we picked: Smithers,’’ he said. The company will use nor- thwest. businesses for services and will choose them on the basis of quality and com- petitiveness, Royea added. That leads to the possibility that the Terrace airport will be used whenever goods and ser- vices are purchased from local businesses, he said. Royea said the company had first considered making sure that one-third to one-half of the workforce came from the north but abandoned that possibility in favour of ensuring it gets the best possible workforce from wherever they might live. Royea expects most of the -heavy supplies, such as diesel fuel, to be shipped to the site along the Iskut and Stikine Tivers using a hovercraft based in Wrangell, Alaska. ‘That 25-ton-hovercraft. has a _capacity of 10 tonnes and will ‘also be used to take in construc- tion equipment, the mill for the ore and other necessary goods. The hovercraft is expected in Wrangell this week with opera- tions to begin shorily. - Up until now, the company has been using Wrangell as a base for flying in equipment and supplies. . Operating costs will be lowered when a road is built in- to the area but it isn't known by how much because final costing and toll rates for the access aren’t yet ready, said Royea, And although the mine now has a life span of nine years, ex- ploration work will continue to find additional reserves. “That'll start after we go into production. We're basically mining from one vein system and there are other good possibilities,’’ Royea said. Nearly one-half of the $65 million necessary for develop- _ment has already been spent, Cominco is 60 per cent owner in the property with Prime “Resources owning the remain- ing 40 per cent. The mine will be the second one to open in the Iskut. Skyline Gold's Johnny Mountain mine began production in 1988 but last week announced it will close this fall because gold values in its ore reserves aren’t sufficient enough to continue production. Skyline gets financing to explore gold property — TERRACE — One of the coun- try’s major gold producers is ex- tending its interest in the Iskut Valley area by investing with the company already operating a mine there. Placer Dome last week bought common shares and lent money to the amount of $3.9 million for exploration work on Skyline Gold’s Johnny Moun- tain property, said Skyline president Bill Price. - The announcment followed one two weeks ago by Skyline . that it is closing its Johnny Mountain mine and mothball- Word on second power line route | not expected until september — TERRACE —B. C. Hydro of- ficials say they won't decide un- til September on‘ which side of the Kitimat valley it will build a new power line. Hydro says it needs the new 287-kilovolt line so it can buy and transfer to the provincial grid up to 800 megawatts of | surplus power from. Alcan’s Kemane . completion: -project when it: comes on line four years from now.. e The decision on a route i is be- ing-delayed to allow technicians more time to study a new pro- posal, project: manager. Mike Gwilliam said last:wéek;: The’ Proposal would haye “the. ? ‘Terrace-Kitimat line can be used ing its mill this fall because the ore that it has uncovered doesn’t contain enough gold to make the operation feasible. Price called the Placer Dome involvement a good sign for it gives Skyline enough money to pay accumulated bills and to provide financing for new ex- ploration and development. “That’s what our hope is — to find ore reserves sufficient to utilize that mill-in the future,” said Price. “There’s not much of the prospect: of opening that mill from the ore that we have now extra line built parallel to the ex- isting one — on the east side of the valley — but in sensitive areas both lines would be placed on a single set of larger steel _ Structures, Gwilliam said putting both citcuits-on the same life in places - -would mean taking the existing line out of service dur- ing construction, “It puts the town’ of Terrace in some jeopardy,” he said, noting the line shutdown would :- leave Terrace vulnerable to: any. “disruption in the flow of power from Prince George, . Normally; he said the existing but there is great hope at the other end,’’ he said. Placer Dome also has a joint venture option with Skyline to spend $3.5. million in the next two exploration seasons on specific claim areas in the Iskut in return for 60 per cent of the proceeds should those areas go into gold production, Placer Dome’s involvement comes in the form of buying 500,000 common shares in a flow through arrangement at.$1 each, Its $3.4 million invest- ment to pay bank debts. and finance exploration is secured against debentures on Skyline to send power from Alcan ta the B.C, Hydro system and vice- versa. Shutting it down would leave Hwy 16 communities without their usual backup system, The new studies are to deter- _tmine whether.that’s wise to do, and how long the system would need to be shut down, Gwilliam - said, Construction: scheduled to: start next spring. ' ‘B.C, Hydro’s’ environmental ‘impact: ‘studies favoured.a route “on’ the western side of the |) “valley, which ‘would also be - | ‘cheaper to build, But the new . proposal came when - fisheriés. favour of . officials came: ‘outed assets and could be repaid by i in- come eamed through the joint venture arrangement. The 500,000 shares in flow through financing was part of a 2.2 million share deal concluded. June 29, That was the last -day mining companies could take part in flow through schemes which allow tax deductions, “The company for several weeks has been in a bidding competition with Corona Resources of Toronto for shares in Stikine Resources which. owns half of a significant gold showing in the, Eskay Creek area of the Iskut region, the eastern route with the steel towers built. ..where the line would cross sensitive salmon- spawning: grounds. is - still ea Uh Leg - GARDENLAND _ NURSERY _ wishes to announce that FARMERS OWN | ‘MARKET has Joined Gardenland. . 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