LOCAL geotech Karla Partel has had a busy summer. working | in her field of study. Contracted by Eagle Plains Resources, Partel has helped to measure and convert over 3,000 metres worth of core samples drilled northwest of Terrace. Company a B.C. believer MINING IS back in B.C., something upon which the braintrust of Eagle _ Plains Resources was banking. The Cranbrook-based company Started as a two to three-person pri- vate operation in 1992, and the-then . public entity merged with Minor River Resources in 1999, It now boasts nine full-time em- ployees and 30-40 summer contract workers. Chris, Gallagher, one of the full- time workers and the project man- ager of Eagle Plains’ work north of Terrace, says the province is again considered a great place for mineral exploration. “There’s been a boom in explora- tion,” says Gallagher, ‘who credits a changing political climate and high- ‘er metal prices for the turnaround. : Gallagher cites the two-term N DP government ‘and the Bre-X scandal as reasons for a loss of confidence in mining here. As exploration companies looked elsewhere, Gallagher says Eagle » Plains president and CEO Tim Ter- ~ muende stuck around and picked up as many properties as possible. “Mining is cyclical,” " says. Gal- lagher, 32, adding the B.C. Liberal government has opened up roads, and extended power supplies, fi- nanced the B.C. Geological Survey and ‘extended, exploration incen- tives. Eagle Plains now has 36 different _ properties ~ some joint ventures —in ~ B.C., the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Its two local properties SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. Kalum — are its flagship projects. So far, $800,000 has been spent on the exploration of the LCR prop- erty, financed by Northern Conti- nental Resources, a joint venture partner. The Kalum project, is 100 per cent owned and financed by Ea- gle Plains. to a tune of $250,000. The financing comes from flow through shares, a government-based incentive program designed to pro- mote investment.in Canadian explo- ration by offering excellent tax ben- efits to investors. Locals land employment ‘MINERAL EXPLORATION is a complex job requiring © } expertise at every stage and Eagle Plains Resources dips into the local talent pool for some ofits staffing needs. Having lgen satisfied enough to resume and expand its - drilling programs on its two properties, the company needed drillers. ..., Will Bolan is in his second year as a helper on a two-man team that drills for 12 hours at a time. “An eight-year logger from’ Kitsumkalum,” ‘the 32-year- nf old says he’s happy to work close to home, though the long” ‘hours don’t seem to make it any easier.’ e “The hours are tough,” he says. “The girlfriend doesn’t even get to see me.’ Bolan’s job consists of emptying and numbering boxes, fuelling up the machine and adding a rod with each ten feet _in depth the drill reaches. “Each time (his partner) pulls up, I’ve got to put a tube down and that’s where the rock comes out of.” Though Bolan, who took a week-long driller’s course in Smithers to be certified, Says he misses the interaction with the guys from his logging days, the money is much better. “We make - good coin ~ better than logging,” he says, adding it’s a 10 to 11-month work year. The core Bo- lan and the other drillers extract has to be brought back to Terrace. That’s ‘where ~ Mike Haworth of Quantum — Heli- copters comes in. Core samples are just one of many things that need being transported, Ge- ologists, drillers, drill parts, rods, core and = core © boxes, camp supplies and food need to be airlifted. Haworth, pilot and co-owner with the local company, says the contract has been a big boost. THE bird's. eyeview from Mike Haworth's helicopter finds Will Bo- lan, right, and Paul McAurther just starting a drilling shift. DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO . “We shared (the contract) last year, but this year it has _ ‘ been solely with us,” he says. “Certainly, anything local has a high value.” i Haworth, 50, says as forestry work declined in the area and before mining saw a re-birth, local work was becom- ing scarce. Just three years ago, the company took a job on. Baffin Island. The work.— about 60 days in total — goes beyond the pilots with office, fuel runners and support staff also needed. On the ground in Terrace, geotech Karla Partel awaits ev- ery new shipment of core samples. Her first job is to convert the samples from feet to metres and to find the core’s recov- ery rate. Factors such as air pockets or harder rock will give “a recoverty rate either lower or higher than the normal 100- foot shafts. She then has to mark out each single metre. These preparations are done before the samples go under the watchful eye of a contract geologist. Partel, who has finished two years of a Bachelor of Geol- ogy degree, says the summer job has been ideal. “It’s like a big summer school,” says the 21-year-old Ter-: racite. “I feel right at home and I feel inspired to finish my degree in the fall.” ‘Partel says the position happened upon her because she was in the right place at the right time and because she had a geology background. “You need to know geology,” says Partel, who adds she also helps geologist Peter Daignault with mineral identifica- tion, vein logging and sampling. Partel will work until all the core is done and shipped. a ah a ee i el i Mk rl tt eee Petre ah dina sth abi A DAUNTING 95 per cent of the time a drill program will come up dry, ending any hope a_ property will turn into a mine, says an Eagle Plains chief geologist. But that tempting five per cent is what keeps explora- tion companies looking for that next big find. “Drilling in exploration is the big thing,” says Chris Gallagher, the project man- ager for the third year of exploration. west of .Kalum Lake. “You can find awe- , some, awesome rocks, great gold...you can make your property look really good but nobody listens until the drill comes and does its ~ thing.” Eagles Plains’ local proj- ects on two sites encompass- ing a 140-square kilometre property resumed. this year based on results from ground and drilling exploration last year, With a cost of up to $100 per metre drilled, including labour, food and transpor- ~ tation for the drillers and diesel for power, Gallagher | says you want to have ‘a pretty good idea that results will be worthwhile. “Right now on the sur- west of Kalum Lake — LCR and face, where the geologists and the geotechs have been, things look really nice, so now the first thing is we. bring the drill in and take two or three exploration holes and you get a better idea of what’s underneath,” says Gallagher, . Using a lightweight drill that can be transported by helicopter... the company “You can make your property look really good but nobody listens until the drill comes and does its thing.” « employs: four workers that work in teams of two for 12-hour shifts each day. The driller operates the pressure and makes sure the . drill is straight, while the helper feeds the driller: the rods he needs to keep push- ing the drill bit down. “There's also a core tube that slides down into the drill rod that fills with rock,” explains. Gallagher. “They pull that out, * (the core sample) comes out and contracted Mining feasib sf ty “i a make or break test _ the helper unloads it into the core boxes.” Gallagher says they have drilled 23 holes on the two properties totalling 3,400 metres of core samples up to.. three. inches in diameter. But even those numbers don’t guarantee the good re- sults they seek. .Once a target depth is reached and the rock still. looks promising, says Galla- gher, the dilemma becomes whether to forge on or not and economics plays a big. = factor. “Sometimes there are re- ally subtle hints that you’re getting closer and closer to a gold or copper system,” says the Kimberley-based Gallagher. “So if. you: don’t sec any copper, you want to see if you're at least getting close to that kind of thing.” -Core samples are and’ will be tested in a laboratory in Vancouver, where they'll get a better idea of the drill- ing, results, Based ‘on the preliminary results, Gallagher and _ his - team will be back next sum- mer to resume the drill pro- -gram. _ So far, things are looking’ up. CHIEF geologist and project manager Chris Gallagher checks the state of the drill before analyzing the most recent core samples that are taken at 45, 60 and near 90 degree angles. en DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Don’t stir the pot Dear Sir: I can’t believe ‘it, Roger Harris, but you have done it again. Your Aug. 17, 2005 column in The Terrace Stan- dard under the heading “Kitimat’s vision found lacking” is precisely why you are no longer this riding’s MLA.| You ‘know better than anyone else that reporters can ; misquote politicians and that is precisely what Mr. Cayo ‘of the Vancouver Sun did with Ms. Diane Hewlett’s com- . . “ments. Ms. Hewlett, the Mayor of Kitimat and Kitimat’s -. elected leadership i is being maligned and misquoted and now you are taking a shot at them also. Shame on you. . You know that Kitimat’s municipal leaders have at- tempted to make inroads to achieve. win-win solutions: with our neighbours the Haisla, the provincial govern- ment; the City of Terrace and Alcan executive.. ° ‘Kitimat council has met with the. Haisla and meetings were friendly and constructive and more are planned in ~ the future. An economic commission has been formed by’ the Haisla and the Kitimat: councils, working together on bringing prosperity to the Kitimat Valley. > Council has met with you, numerous cabinet ministers, as well as Premier Gordon Campbell. We were encour- aged by the Hon. John Les when he said “that if his town | faced a similar situation as Kitimat did, he would do all that he could to defend it.” We took his advice seriously. Yes, we have filed an action in the courts. It’s not a lawsuit, it is simply asking for clarification of the 1950 and’ 1997 Alcan agreements. You also: know that parties that have cases against each other in court continue talk-.: ing. Alcan and the. B.C. government in 1995 talked while they battled in court. , a We have met several times with Mr. Travis Engen from , Alcan several time, with Ms. Cynthia Carrol, Mr. Marco Palmieri and the Alcan Board of Directors: Slowly doors are opened and slowly trust and respect is established. : We have a letter from the chairman of Alcan’s Board of Directors stating that he will meet. with full Kitimat council, in the near future. Solutions are being sought and in the meantime we ‘are seeking’ clarifications from the courts which will help us build on solid positions. As you very well know, Kitimat has only been denied standing and the interpretation of the Alcan contracts has, of yet, not been addressed. We hope that’the courts: will hear the case and come up with a decision shortly. Our relationship with the City of Terrace was and is - sound. Terrace is'a benefactor of Kitimat’s shoppers and * . work opportunities, not to mention the benefactors of Al- . can’s recent generosities. I hope it will continue after the power sales issue is resolved. I do wish the City of Terrace’ _ well, because Alcan’s generosity may not last indefinitely. You need to ask yourself if. it could be that by Kitimat Council holding. Alcan accountable to the agreements,.” that these unusual gifts have been so lavishly bestowed? 7 Terrace enjoy!. | ' Roger, you know that Kitimat has a welcome mat out “ for industry that wants to settle in the Kitimat Valley. Ask the executives of Enbridge, Kitimat LNG, Cascadia and’ the copper smelter how we quietly, professionally, yet dis- creetly encourage them to come to this valley. Your government has failed this riding, so have you. The Liberals’ failure to enforce the contracts resulted in this power'sales ‘issue. All that Kitimat wants, is clarifica-: tion of the 1950 and 1997 Alcan contracts. This wil] mean - jobs for.our neighbours the Haisla, the people of Terrace, communities along Highway 16 and most of all, the pio- neers and hard working people of Kitimat. You had your chance, you blew it. Stop stirring the pot and character assassinating Kiti- mat’s democratically elected leaders. Dr. Gerd Gottschling, Councillor for the District of Kitimat, Kitimat, B.C. They’re standing up Dear Sir: After reading Bulkley Valley - Stikine Liberal MLA . Dennis MacKay’s position that the blockade of the Ealue Lake Road, preventing access by resource companies into . the Klappan, is illegal I feel as director for Area D of the . Kitimat-Stikine regional district, | should present. some facts from my perspective for the general public. |» | The Ealue Lake/Klappan Road is not a public road: In the late 70s and early 80s when BC Rail abandoned work on the Dease Lake extension and sample coal shipments ‘were completed by Gulf Resources, road maintenance: was discontinued. | The provincial government was not interested j in main- taining it for general public access or for the Iskut band — and Tahitan nation. This road allowed easier. access for Iskut band and Tahltan nation members; particularly the elders, to traditional territory that has been utilized: ‘ever y year, for countless generations, - This utilization has been for sustenance purposes and cultural and spiritual purposes. The Iskut band has maintained ‘the road since then: When Shell Canada arrived in Iskut earlier this year for - an open house they were greeted by both young and old members of many families and the Iskut band chief and . council and asked to leave. , For Dennis MacKay to say. the people blocking the road are not supported by their leadership therefore con- fuses me. These people are asking for meaningl ul consul- tation and accountability. Our MLA should be asking. the attorney general and solicitor general to investigate whether this has happened, -not whether criminal charges should be laid. Also, the term “‘a couple of renegades” does not de- scribe the large number of people I see standing up to voice their concerns. Dave Brocklebank, Telegraph Creek, B.C. More pruning needed Dear Sir: As a gardener I view the trimming of the lower branches "of the trees in the Little Park as pruning. Acknowledging that the pruning was done without city approval, I think. the city was remiss in not doing it themselves in order to _ provide safety for the public. There are more trees on the arena hillside which should also have the lower branches pruned. es Eileen Callanan, - Terrace, B.C.. - About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard ‘welcomes . letters. Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at newsroom @ terracestandard.com. Noattachments, please. Name, address and phone number required for verification.