a7 \COMMUNITY B1 ) Let’s LAN party Pack your computer, tower, keyboard, mouse, game card and headphones movie makers. \NEWS A5 Action shot | Why Terrace is the new hot ° spot for snowboard and ski yf nl en ln i i . Hawaiian holiday yA #: Cal senior girls volleyball | rigf serves up fun.in the sun in “i Oahu during spring break * \SPORTS B4 : o :$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST : _ | ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST ‘ outside of the Terrace area) VOL. 18 NO. 2 By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ‘THE PORT of Prince Rupert got’a huge boost last" -week as the. federal and provincial governments - . announced they are going ahead with a $120 million . container port there. The project is expected to pump millions of dol- lars into the regional economy and will become a major gateway for Asia-Pacific trade. The go-ahead ‘comes after an announcement late last-week that the federal government will inject $30 - million toward the project. The B.C.. government. will match that commitment by adding an additional $12.8 million to the $17.2 million it already prom- ised for the port expansion. American- based Maher Terminals Inc.,. which will operate the new container port, is also expected to pump $60 million toward the mammoth project. _ “Today brings conclusion to a lot of work done by a lot of people over the. last four years to put in a : place: awhat is ‘ruly a watershed project for the north,” said Skeena MLA Roger Harris last week. global market in a way that they never ' dreamed Pos- sible before. 1 think with the security of this investment and TERRACE www. terracestandard.com “It will allow every. community to tap into. the. elt positioned or better than most, to tie into’ this: a major blasting, rather ‘simple “scraping of: ‘tunnel a container port.” The port means major upgrades along the CN rail tracks leading ( to the port. When B.C. rail was bought by CN in 2004, the company committed . itself to: shelling “the security of knowing it’s go- ‘ing to happen every community should be taking down their community plan and rethink- ing about what. it is they. can become.” Terrace’ will benefit from the “This community. is, | think, well. positioned or better than most, to tie into” this container port, - Roger Harris upgrades of terminal trackage mainline from Prince George to handle trains. carrying heavier loads. “CN spokesman Mark Hall- announcement, he added. “We provided the communi- ty with a significant investment in the airport lands, we are: strategically ‘on the rail and we are as posi- tioned as anybody in B.C. to start to take advantage man said the company is ap- proaching its board of directors “this week to ask for an additional. $15 million to” that end. Roughly $10 million of that money will be. used to allow double stacked container Cars to pass out $15 million to be used for. " rail line ‘which extends to all of.the major consumer _ at Prince Rupert as well as the - 7 CEL April 20, 2005 ‘Hallman said the tunnel work ¥ won't involve a _ walls.” . Once. freight starts rolling, CN: will pump : ana ad- oe ditional $125 million into rolling stock and locomo- ~ tives to help deal with the increased traffic; Hallman.” said. The port will be connected with the rest of CN’s - markets in Canada and also into the. United States. . Prince Rupert’s strategic location. at. the North - American entry point of the North West Transporta- tion Corridor, means the new container port will of- fer the shortest land-sea transportation route — ‘an at- © tractive feature for. businesses looking t to ship goods overseas quickly. ; -The container port is expected to increase Canada = and B.C.’s competitive edge when it comes to.Asia- ° Pacific trade opportunities. The port will be built i in two phases over four years. : i Spring cleaning HELPING to clean up in front of St. Matthews Anglican Church on Lakelse Avenue i is (from left to right) Heather Cook, 9, Lara Hayward, 6, and Ken Smallwood. The church does a yearly cleanup of the grass and bushes on its property. - of. this, Harris said. “This community. is, I think, ‘through existing tunnels. DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO | Exploration to inject money into Terrace economy By ROD LINK A VERY large and promising gold, silver and copper mining exploration project north of here is pouring money into the local economy. , : _ NovaGold Resources will spend at least $25 | million this summer on its Galore Creek property and is using Terrace as its main service center. It has hired Quantum Helicopters to fly people and goods in and out of its site, Black’s Expedit- ing to round up items it needs and Bandstra Trans- portation to truck core samples down to a Van- couver lab for testing, says Galore Creek general manager Car] Gagnier. “One of the factors in. choosing Terrace is that it has the facilities and the businesses we need for the sheer size of our project,” he said. “Terrace has the Finning dealership and that was also one of the factors.” The $25 million estimated expenditure makes it one of the more extensive exploration and de- ‘velopment projects in B.C. this year. : Exploration expenditures have slumped over the past years, but began to revive two years ago. : Provincial mining ministry officials are now predicting $200 million could be spent on mineral finding activity this year. a thence NovaGold’s budget exceeds the $15 million it spent last year. This year’s expenditures include expanding its on-site camp to accommodate 175 people. There’s no road access to the site so everything needed has to be brought in and out by helicopter. Galore Creek is located 75km northwest of the existing Eskay.Creek gold mine and is on tradi- tional Tahltan territory. “One of the factors in choosing Terrace is that it has the facilities . and the businesses,we need for _ the sheer size of our project,” -Carl Gagnier — Several Tahltan-owned companies have been providing catering and other services to the camp, said Gagnier. Drilling equipment is coming from Smithers and Gagnier said the level of exploration activity has increased to the point it was difficult to find what the company needed. “There’s been a large exploration demand this year. We’ve been very fortunate to have signed up good quality contractors,” he said. The success of last year’s $15 million proj- ect, which has led to this year’s $25 million one, meant NovaGold was able to keep key geologists on contract throughout the winter. “It’s similar to a regular mining operation. We | need the people to have cross shifts, to keep con- tinuity,” said Gagnier. The size of a crew change at ‘the site also means NovaGold is in discussions with airlines | Sawmill sale | negotiations moving fast | THE receiver overseeing the sale of the Terrace sawmill to a group of local investors says the deal could be ‘apptoved ; ‘within weeks.:: a ears Larry. Prentice, | says if all goes well, the deal could close as early as the end of this month. — John Ryan, -the chairman of the board for TLC, said he’ s pleased with how fast negotiations are going. ~ But before the sale can.close, the company is required to work out a deal with the City of Terrace regarding the land the mill sits on and that appears to have happened. “The city told us that they are satisfied and they are tell- ing Larry that they are satisfied,” says Ryan. Not expected to hold up the sale of the mill is Prince Ru- - pert’s recent appeal victory in the B.C. Court of Appeal. _ the allocation costs will not mean TLC will have tocomeup . That appeal regarded how the allocation cost of land as- ‘sociated with New Skeena’s assets was determined.” : _ “We felt comfortable going ahead with the Terrace Lum- ber Company sale,” Prentice said. “Doing so was not go- ing to prejudice the position of the other creditors down the line.” And Prentice is confident the new method of determining with more money for the land deal. ‘That’s because the City of Terrace’s claim to unpaid prop- erty taxes associated with the Terrace mill would amount to | more than what the new costs of the land might work | out * to. about chartering aircraft to ferry workers to and - from Vancouver. That’s because regular commercial flights wouldn’t have the capacity to meet NovaGold’s requirements, said Gagnier. If everything goes according to plan, the com- pany will submit its formal development applica- tion to the provincial government by mid 2006. Should quick approval be granted, the company is looking at a one-year project to build a road to the site and a'two-year mine construction period. “Jt really means we would open in 2010,” said Gagnier. Te. How much the land deal between the city and TLC ‘is . worth has not been revealed. If all goes well, Prentice could have hig report to the court, ; ; recommending the sale’s approval, ready later this week. That report will. then have to be submitted to the court before approval is given. In the meantime, the company is still forging ahead with plans for a June start-up date. ' And company officials are currently negotiating a long | term: contract with members of the Steelworkers Union, Ryan said. - Those negotiations are ® expected to be concluded this week. ‘Kitimat sues BC. government over power sales KITIMAT has filed a legal challenge against the province of British Columbia over its position regard- . ing Alcan’s power sales. Kitimat is claiming that, ministerial orders giving ’ Alcan permission to export power generated by its Ke-. mano plant are illegal. = * Kitimat has long argued that public resource should be used to smelt aluminum and create jobs in the northwest. “We believe the BC government it overstepped its ‘authority in issuing ministerial orders that allow Al- can to ignore its obligations in the original contract - that gave Alcan access to the Nechako/Kemano water. - resource that powers Kemano,” said Kitimat Mayor Rick Wozney in a press release last week. _ “Those ministerial orders allow Alcan to sell cheap ‘power at huge profits rather than create wealth for B.C. by fueling industry, which is the explicit premise of of . the original 1950 agreement.” Wozney hopes to see those orders rescinded, forc- | ing Alcan to smelt more aluminum and abandon its interest in power sales. wi