Se aaa IN rene

by. Michael Kelly

If the: initial conclusions’ Roget,
Taylor and Tex -Enemark have ~

tétiched are bome out, Kitimat may “| °

have a major new industry in a

couple. of. years. The two officers.

of PRM Resources Lid. were in
the Northwest last week meeting
with local officials, merchants and
union and media representatives to
present the results of a pre-feasibil-
ity study for a custom copper
smelter and refinery, and to listen
to concerns and answer questions,

The $250,000 study was original-
ly announced in June. Enemark
and Taylor said they believed the
pending shutdown of several cop-

per smelters worldwide would:

create an opportunity for a new
smelter on the B.C. coast during
the 1990's. The study is finished,
and they haven’t found anything
yet that would indicate otherwise.

The plant they have in mind
would be a 150,000 ton capacity

combination smelter and refinery

that they claim would have virtual-
ly no environmental impact, They
project a permanent workforce of
350 with an annual payroll in the
omer of $20 million. The project

Taylor, Enemark: We know how things are done here.

would require a capital investment
estimated at $470 million and put
about 1,000 people to work during
the construction phase.

Although the pre-feasibility study
shows all the necessary positive
indications, Taylor said, further
detailed research is required and
the opening construction phase is
probably at least two years away.
Both men emphasize there will be
ample opportunity for anyone
concerned about the smelter to

No action yet on |
land applications

The Regional District of Kitimat.
Stikine made their recommendation
on the Lakelse Air foreshore lease
application in August, but the
Crown Land application is still on
hold. |

In light of extensive opposition
from Lakelse Lake residents, the
regional board recommended that
Lakelse Air owner Harry Mc-
Cowan move his entire charter
float plane service several hundred
feet south. By maintaining his
operation in the southem half of
his 500 feet of waterfront property,
said the board, lake residents
would still have reasonable access
to what they consider to be a pub-
lic beach.

McCowan, who has already
completed construction of fuel
storage and a dock, objected to the
recommendation, however, and
according to Jim Yardley, Ministry

of Crown Lands regional manager
in Smithers, his application is

again on hold. McCowan has_

asked for an opportunity to address
the board before Crown Lands
accepts their recommendation as
final. Yardley says his wish has
been granted.

Another Crown Land proposal
also remains in limbo. Yardley
says they have now received a
second appraisal on 180 acres of
Crown land south of the Mount
Layton Hot Springs Resort slated
for a golf course and the new
appraisal is now under review.
Mount Layton owner Bert Orleans
declined the government’s first
offer to purchase the land and
asked for a second appraisal hop-
ing for a better price. Yardley says
an agreement may be reached
soon,

regisier those concerns and be
answered during that period. Ene-
mark said, "You don’t just move

your furniture into someone’s
house without talking to them
about it first."

Some preliminary arrangements
have already been made. PRM has
optioned a 55-hectare plot of land
from Alcan, located south of the
Ocelot methanol plant and east of
the Kitimat aluminum smelter
adjacent to the port’s deep-sea
docks. Enemark said Alcan has

confirmed their ability to supply

the 20-megawatt hydroelectric
power requirements of the finished
operation from their present gener-
ating capacity.

~ The smelter and refinery would

establish long term contracts with
both suppliers of copper concen-
trate and buyers of finished cop-
per. The company would offer a
smelting and refining service rather
than becoming involved in mining
the ore and selling a finished pro-
duct, Taylor said that position will
protect the operation from the
worst ups and downs of the mining
and metal markets, making it a
stable and permanent operation. He
compared the concept to that used
by Alcan in Kitimat and Cominco
in Trail, neither of which are de-
pendent on a mine for their con-
tinued viability.

The raw material would arrive in
the form of a copper concentrate
Enemark described as having the
appearance and, consistency of
"beige sand", The primary ingredi-
ents are copper sulphide and silica.
That material would be smelted

- Terrace Review — Wednesday, October [0; 1990 A3

or r copper smelter —

into “blister” copper and then
refined into bars of 99.99 percent
pure copper, then shipped to the
end user. The plant will be
designed with the potential for a
value-added product, copper cable,
from which various sizes and types

| of copper wire is manufactured,

The concentrate will arrive both
by bulk marine shipping and rail
cars. The rail cars, Taylor said,
will be fitted with specia) ridged
covers to prevent dust dispersion.

Enemark noted that the plant will
be designed to accept scrap copper
for recycling, which would make it

the only smelter on the west coast

with that capability. .

Environmental damage from an
industrial operation of that size
will inevitably be a major issue
surrounding approval for the plant,
and Enemark and Taylor feel they
have addressed those concerns in
the design. There will be no liquid
emissions, Enemark said. Liquids
used in smelting and refining will
be re-used and 100 percent con-
tained within the plant. "It will be
a net user of water," he said.

Air emissions of sulphur dioxide,
the primary noxious airborne
byproduct of the process, will be
removed by stack scrubbing equip-
ment, They expect 99.5 percent of
the gas to be trapped and precipi-
tated, a level they claim is well
below the ‘provincial standards of
450 parts per million maximum
emission. The sulphur removed

from the emission gasses will be.

sold as elemental sulphur or sul-
phurie acid, and there are estab-
lished markets to which both che-
micals will be sold.

Solid slag from the ore extraction
process will consist mainly of
silica, Enemark said, which will be
loaded on barges and shipped to
Vancouver for use in cement pro-
ducts, Other byproducts are trace
amounts of silver and gold, which
Taylor says will be sold to other
smelters. He added that PRM may
consider fitting the plant with gold
smelting equipment if it appears
they will consistently processing
ore with significant gold content.

Kitimat was chosen as the site
because it has everything the
operation requires — it’s on tide-
water, has road and rail links, an
adequate supply of readily avail-

The Board of Directors of the
Dr. R.E.M. Lee Foundation
thanks the people of our

community for their
Ove ee ning support in the
CT Scanner campaign.

om

Soe rpm ees ale eee eie a

able electricity, and several other

factors in its favour. One of them —

is Ocelot Chemicals — oxygen is
by-product of manufacturing meth-
anol. The plant currently releases
the gas into the atmosphere, but it

is an essential elemerit in refining ©

copper and PRM will use it if the.
plant goes ahead. .

Taylor said the infrastructure of
the area is also important. "It

‘ appears the plant could be accom-

modated without socio-economic
disruption,” he explained. One of
PRM’s next steps will be to iden-

tify the skills required to run the

operation; they hope to be able to
artange the ‘needed training for
local people and have the work
force ready to step in when the
project is ready to start up.

When asked what’s missing in
the area, Taylor and Enemark
singled out the Canadian National
Railway line between Terrace and
Kitimat as being a weak link in the
plan. The condition of the line
limits both the speed of trains and
the carrying capacity of railcars

moving on it. "We’re hoping this.

announcement might accelerate the
upgrade," Enemartk said. Both
Taylor Enemark agreed that the
port facilities at Kitimat are
adequate but they would welcome
any further development.

’ The provincial government: has
been discussing the possibility of
expanding the..port in . recent
months with federal and local
governments, and the Ministry of
Regional and Economic Develop-
ment issued a position paper on
the subject two weeks ago.

Taylor has been in the copper
mining business in B.C, for 20
years. He has been the president of
Granby Mining, the manager at
Granisle, and more recently the
president of Abermin Corp., an
exploration company. Enemark
grew up in Prince George, was
trained as a lawyer, served as a
deputy minister of consumer and
corporate affairs for the B.C.
government, and is a past president
of the Mining Association of B.C.
During their time in the Northwest
last week they spoke to a meeting
in Kitimat attended by members of
the municipal council, chamber of
commerce, two labour unions and

— Continued on page A16