It’s been 13 long years in the making, but Pebble Creek Mining (PEB-V, PBLEF-O) is now just one step away from getting a mining lease for its Askot project, in the scenic foothills of the Himalayas in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand, near the border with Nepal.
The company said today it has received final environmental clearance from the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests for commercial production on its Askot project, as well as the first-stage forest clearance permit from Uttarakhand’s Forest Department.
It can now file an application for the second-stage forest clearance permit — the last permit required for a 30-year mining lease.
In order to secure the permit, Pebble Creek must ensure adequate compensation for the trees it plans to remove from the mine site. It must also show that it has an approved plan to reforest the area and a program to protect indigenous wildlife.
The company says it has been drafting such plans for many months with the advice of field officers from the Forest Department. Andrew Nevin, Pebble Creek’s president and chief executive, expects the company should clear the final hurdle in the next six to 10 months.
“The level of permitting required appears harsh,” Nevin wrote in an emailed response to questions. “But think about this. Most of Canada where we prospect and mine is still wilderness. Most is not populated and there are few other competing land uses, save First Nation’s hunting and fishing grounds. . . Most places you want to prospect and mine in India are already someone’s farm, or a protected forest, or a watershed, or a tiger reserve, etc.”
Nevin argued that India needs more land-use scrutiny and regulation than places such as Canada, Australia, and in the desert of the Western United States.
Askot is a copper-zinc volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit that also contains significant gold, silver and lead values.
SRK Consulting outlined an indicated resource estimate of 1.86 million tonnes grading 2.62% copper, 3.83% lead, 5.8% zinc, 38 grams silver per tonne and 0.48 gram gold.
The deposit was drilled and tunnelled in a series of programs by the United Nations Development Program and several Indian government agencies between 1965 and 1988.
In 1975, the Geological Survey of India calculated a resource estimate of 770,000 tonnes grading 2.3% copper, 3.9% zinc and 2.6% lead.
Subsequent historic estimates in the late 1980s projected about 1.2 to 1.35 million tonnes averaging about 2.1% copper, 5.1-5.3% zinc and 3.5-5.1% lead.
The company says it is in discussions with an Asian copper company about financing for additional drilling and a feasibility study on Askot.
In addition to Askot, Nevin said the company has a “fat pipeline” of 17 other grants or applications in six states covering a total area of about 18,000 sq. km. The applications are for gold, copper, silver-lead-zinc, nickel, diamonds and platinum group metals.
Nevin pointed out that India has the cheapest fees of any country he is aware of for filing applications and posting bonds. He also noted that the new government has good cabinet ministers for mines and for the environment and forests, and “both are keen to promote progress and move things forward.”
At presstime, Pebble Creek was trading at about 8¢ per share. It has a 52-week trading range of 1-31¢ per share and 33.2 million shares outstanding.
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