A huge $917 million B.C. mine project has inched closer to reality with receipt last week of a mine's permit a key approval for construction and operations activities.
Vancouver-based Terrane Metals Corp. (TSX-V:TRX) has proposed building its Mount Milligan copper-gold project northwest of Prince George.
Approval of the permit followed a detailed B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources review and allows mine site work to start upon receipt of timber cutting and fisheries approvals.
Terrane continues to advance Mount Milligan with an updated feasibility expected this fall, along with a construction decision from the company and its project partner, Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G; NYSE:GG).
The proposed mine is expected to create 700 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs.
Meantime, First Coal Corp., a private Vancouver-based company, has also received approval to extract a bulk sample of 50,000 tonnes of coal from its property near Chetwynd.
First Coal is planning to submit a small mine permit application to the B.C. government to allow it to start production in 2010's last quarter at an annualized rate of 245,000 tonnes of coal.
"This is good news for British Columbia, particularly during the current economic downturn," Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of B.C., said of the two developments.
"The Mount Milligan project represents one of the next major copper mines that will keep B.C.'s copper mining industry flourishing for another generation."
Gratton noted that while the project has now received its B.C. environmental assessment certificate and many of the necessary construction permits from the province, the federal government's environmental assessment process "continues to lag significantly."