Vancouver —
Two federal departments — Fisheries & Oceans Canada and Transport Canada — decided that, under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Tulsequah project is “unlikely to result in any significant adverse environmental effects.”
The decision marks the conclusion of several years of legal challenges and environmental review that have frustrated advancement of the deposit. Redcorp, through wholly-owned subsidiary Redfern Resources, also holds a special-use permit allowing a proposed access road.
A number of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups, as well as some members of the Taku Tlingit First Nation, have contested the planned 160-km access road, specifically its routing and potential impact on the Tulsequah and Taku Rivers.
In mid-May, the company pulled the plug on a feasibility study to re-open the mine, which was being conducted by engineering firms Hatch and AMEC Americas. Redcorp blamed increased capital and operating expense estimates coupled with a significant reduction in the resource estimate.
Earlier this year, AMEC pegged Tulsequah’s measured and indicated resource at 5.4 million tonnes grading 6.7% zinc, 1.4% copper, 1.3% lead, 2.7 grams gold per tonne and 101 grams silver per tonne, in compliance with National Instrument 43-101. Inferred resources stood at 1.5 million tonnes averaging 5.4% zinc, 1.1% copper, 1.1% lead, 2.2 grams gold and 85 grams silver.
A resource calculation, conducted in 1997, pegged Tulsequah at 7.6 million tonnes grading 6.6% zinc, 1.3% copper, 1.2% lead, 2.5 grams gold and 105 grams silver.
With all socio-environmental issues now apparently addressed, the company still needs to solve the economic constraints. Expansion of the resource base and streamlining of capital expenditures and operating costs are essential for the project to return to production. To finance proposed operations, Redcorp is considering bringing in a potential partner.
The Tulsequah Chief mine operated for several years until 1957. Cominco, now part of
Redcorp, through Redfern, first acquired an interest in the project in 1981, having subsequently consolidated its property ownership.
Tulsequah, and the nearby Big Bull, are volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits hosting a suite of ore minerals including sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, tennantite-tetrahedrite and native gold. The orebody occurs at the hinge zone and limbs of a steeply plunging synclinal fold and consists of a number of stacked sulphide lenses developed within the basal stratigraphy of the felsic volcanics.
Investors were delighted by the news, driving up Redcorp’s share price 100%, to 24, on volume of almost 2.8 million shares. The company posted a market capitalization of $17 million at its recent trading levels.
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