|  gomir million for

Snip gold project

~The Canadian mining giant Cominco has made a
an _ production decision on their 60 percent-owned Snip

- gold and silver property north of Stewart: the company ©
. Will spend $50 million in 1989 to build a full scale gold .

oe mill and camp.

DAVID JOHNSTON: If you of-
fer us. the best service, you
get the business.

The announcement came at a

meeting of the Terrace and Dis-
trict Chamber of Commerce

Dec. 15 at the Mount Layton -

Hot Springs. The speaker was
Cominco vice-president of
-northern operations
Johnston, a former Terrace resi-

_dent who said he specifically’

requested to be put in charge of
the project.

The decision came after two
- years of intensive exploration on

the property, primarily by Co-

minco’s joint venture partner

Delaware Resources. The Co-

minco 1987 annual report states

reserves are estimated at 1.2

million tons grading .7 ounces

per ton of gold. ‘‘Initial studies
indicate that such mineralization
could produce a substantial cash

flow for the Corporation at a

‘modest capital cost,’? the report

Says..

Cominco’s expenditures over
the next year will earn it 60
percent interest in the joint ven-
‘ture, .

Johnston told the 55 Chamber
members who attended the
luncheon meeting that the min-
ing operation is expected to be
producing gold bullion by the
end of next year at a rate of 500
tons of ore processed per day.
Amnual production of -gold is
expected to be 110,000 ounces
for a projected mine life of eight

. years.
_ Johnston noted that the mine
life is estimated on the basis of
proven, indicated and inferred
reserves but exploration will
continue and further discoveries
may enlarge the known dimen-
sions of the ore body.

_The Snip property, about 100
kilometers northwest of Stew-
art, is accessible only by air.
During a slide show at the meet-
ing Johnston said the notorious-
ly.fickle Bronson Creek air strip
- has been upgraded to. a 4,800-
foot packed gravel surface suit-
able-for Hercules aircraft. He
- said the company is not consid- -

David

ering construction of a road into
the site due to the relatively
short life of the mine. Negative
considerations are the time: re-
quired to build a road link,
expense, and political. considera-
tions, he said, -

When the mine is in full oper-
ation Johnston expects . it to
employ 175 people, with direct
wages of $10 million annually
and another $10 million per year
to be spent on goods and servic-

es, Those expenditures will in- |
clude purchase and servicing of —

heavy equipment, hardware,
groceries, fuels and lubricants,

catering, construction, transpor- ©

tation and expediting.

Johnston said 12 percent of
the mine’s construction budget
has been set aside for environ-
mental protection, ~

Terrace seems to be getting
largely bypassed by the dollars
spent on mine servicing in the
Northwest, and Johnston was
asked what transportation
routes and staging areas would
be used by Cominco. He replied
that the company is currently
shipping bulk commodities like
fuel by barge to Wrangell, Alas-
ka, where the freight is loaded
-onto airplanes and flown into
Bronson Creek. Crews are flown
up from Vancouver and go to
the: site primarily through
Smithers, -

With regard to using Wran-
gell, Johnston explained that
cost is the determining factor.
The mine is expected to consume
about 3,000 tons of fuel annual-
ly: transportation costs through
Wrangell are $.43 per liter, but
through Terrace it would cost
about $1.50 per liter.

Weather reliability was cited
for the preference of Smithers
over Terrace for moving crews.
Johnston said the chances of
getting weathered in at Terrace
are three times higher, despite
recent improvements in mini-
mum ceiling and approaches,

Johnston assured the Cham-
ber, however, that Cominco’s
‘investment will be spread evenly
and fairly around the region on
a-competitive basis.

Explaining Cominco’s -posi-

tion, he said, ““When you’re in.

business, you have to look
around, see what you want and

_ where to get it. If you offer us
the best service, you get the

business.” _.

There are presently about 70
people working on the site at
Snip and the company has com-
pleted about three kilometers of
underground works and spent
$9.5 million to date on the
project.

’ Cominco is estimating a re-
covery. cost of $225Cdn per
ounce of gold, leaving a sub-

stantial margin for profit-at the

.present trading level of around
$400U5. “It's a risky business,’?

Johnston remarked. “You need

that margin.”

* “Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 21, 1988 3

Young Russell Zylicz was the center of attention Friday evening in the Skeena Mall as he

plugged in the Terrace Child Development Centre’s Tree of Lights. As of Dec. 16 the sale of
bulbs on the tree and other donations had brought in about $1,800 for the center. CDC
board members Wendy Berg and Irene Ennis organized the project, and the M.C. for the
lighting up ceremony was Terrace Freeman Vesta Douglas. --

New equipment for Mills Memorial

The Kitimat-Stikine Regional
Hospital District has approved
four grants-in-aid totalling
$19,058 for $35,175 worth of
new equipment for Mills
Memorial Hospital. The balance
of the funding will be provided
by the Ministry of Health.

The new equipment will in-
clude an automatic blood cell
washer, computerized drug dis-
tribution system, an interferen-
tial current therapy unit and an
enfluratec plenum vaporizer.

The blood cell washer, valued
at $12,142, will replace a defunct
manual system in the hospital
laboratory. According to Neal
Smith, the MMH chief
laboratory technologist, an
automated cell washer allows
cross-matches of two samples at
a time and will free up tech-
nologists’ time for other work.
He says the hospital has a
significant number of trauma
cases every year requiring multi-
ple transfusions and the new
piece of equipment will be much
faster than the older unit. The

PLOWING
SERVICES

No driveway or
’ parking lot is too
big or too small for
North Coast Road
Maintenance Ltd.
Phone 638-8300
- oF apply at
4544 Lakelse Ave.,
‘Terrace,B.C.

regional district will pay $3, 036
of the total cost,

‘The computerized drug
distribution. system will cost
$11,433 and the regional
district’s share will be $7,622.
There is also an annual cost of
$2,450 for this system which in-
cludes sofeware enhancements,
training and troubleshooting.
MMH Executive Director Norm
Carelius says the system will
save money by reducing nursing
time on documentating patient
medication, improve statistical
documentation, and improve
patient service and safety.

The regional district will pay
$6,000 towards the. $9,000 in-
terferential current therapy unit.
The unit will be used in the
physiotherapy department to

the a of

Games.

be addressed to:

" NOTICE

CITY OF TERRACE
and

SCHOOL DISTRICT #88 (Terrace) |
The City of Terrace and School District #88 (Terrace)
are joint hosts for the 1991 Northern B.C. Winter

A volunteer Board of Directors is responsible for plan-
ning and organizing the Games within the guidelines of
the host agreement. Interested persons who are seek-
ing a challenging commitment towards the games are
invited to submit a letter of application stating name,
area of interest and related experience. The Board will
require people with strong communication skills and
expertise in a variety of areas, including: organization,
financlal control, publicity, volunteer recruitment and
tralning, protocol, transportation and communication.
All applications will be held in confidence and should

strengthen muscles and i improve
circulation by applying two
medium frequency circuits of

‘around 4,000 cycles per second .

working directly to musclés,
nerves and the cellular
metabolism,

The final piece of equipment,

the enfluratec plenum vaporizer,

will upgrade the hospital’s exist-
ing anaesthetic machine by
allowing the administration of
an enflurane anaesthetic agent.
According to Carelius,
enflurane is about half the cost
of isoflurane which is uded as an
alternative to halothane for pa-
tients requiring frequent repeat
anaesthetics. The regional
district will pay $2,400 towards
the $3,600 cost of the unit. +

_ E.R. Hallsor |
Clerk-Administrator
- CHy of Terrace
_  , ‘os 8215 Eby Street,
| Terrace, B.C. V8@ 2X8

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