Vancouver – NovaGold Resources (NG-T, NG-X) has crossed a major hurdle in its bid to develop its Galore Creek project in northwestern British Columbia by securing an environmental assessment certificate from the provincial government.
NovaGold said the issuance of the certificate should trigger various authorizations that would allow construction of one of the worlds largest undeveloped copper-gold-silver projects to begin by mid-2007.
The Vancouver company hopes to develop a 65,000 tonne-per-day open pit mine, that would create 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and direct work for 500 employees over a projected 20-year mine life.
We are very pleased to have received the timely approval of our environmental certificate for the Galore Creek project, said Rick Van Kieuwenhuyse, chief executive officer of NovaGold, which has secured the backing of the Tahltan First Nation.
The capital cost to develop the Galore Creek project will be about US$1.8 billion, according to a final feasibility study, completed by Mississauga, Ont., engineering firm Hatch Ltd. About 20% of that amount will go towards the phase 1 infrastructure construction program, comprised of the access road, tunnel and powerline.
NovaGold said half of the estimated capital costs would be financed through senior project loans, with the balance coming from a joint venture partner.
NovaGold is currently in discussions with prospective financing partners. We know we are going to have to get a partner, its just a question of who it is going to be,” said Rhylin Bailie, a spokeswoman for NovaGold.
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