The B.C. government has rejected a Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. (TSX-V:BKM) application to build a copper-gold mine at the headwaters of the Skeena River, near Morrison Lake, north of Smithers.
Citing potential impacts on "genetically unique" Skeena River sockeye salmon, Environment Minister Terry Lake and Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman jointly announced their government will not issue an environmental assessment certificate to Pacific Booker for the project.
Morrison Lake is at the headwaters of the Skeena River, the second most important sockeye salmon-producing river in B.C., next to the Fraser River.
According to a government news release, Coleman and Lake decided that the "potential diminished long-term water quality in Morrison Lake is not an acceptable risk."
The Morrison copper-gold mine would have produced an estimated 30,000 tonnes of ore per day over a 20-year period. The proposal has met opposition from Lake Babine First Nation, which withdrew from talks with Pacific Booker in 2008.
In 2009, the company announced it was suing the band for a press release that the company claimed was false and defamatory. In July, however, the company announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Babine First Nation.
Despite that agreement, Lake and Coleman decided the potential long-term risks of the project outweighed the potential benefits to the province.
Pacific Booker's stock prices plummeted 65% Tuesday morning, dropping from $14.95 per share at close of markets Monday to a low of $3.79, before recovering slightly to the $5 range.
A spokesperson for Pacific Minerals could not be reached for comment.
