Second challenge to Seabridge’s KSM copper-gold project

The SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) have filed a petition against Seabridge Gold‘s (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) KSM copper-gold mine, the latest objection to the project in one week. 

This petition alleges the mine’s location threatens the Nass and Unuk watersheds, which support several species of Pacific salmon and eulachon (candlefish), and that these fish are vital to nearby communities for culture, subsistence, recreation, and their local economies. It was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court against the provincial minister of environment and climate change strategy, and KSM Mining, a Seabridge subsidiary.

Seabridge said the new petitioners are challenging the “substantially started determination” (SSD) of the project as public interest advocates rather than as private litigants who claim rights or property interests in the KSM project area. The SSD is a provincial designation relating to environmental approval deadlines. This is the third legal claim brought by SEITC against the KSM project; the two previous proceedings were brought to challenge KSM’s 2014 environmental approval.

“We have had a week to consider the previous petition,” Seabridge chair and CEO Rudi Fronk said in a release. “We are very confident there is ample evidence that the determination was reasonable and appropriate. Since our subsidiary is included as a respondent to the new petition, we are a party to the proceedings and will aggressively defend against both petitions.”

Seabridge has asked that the new petition be combined with last week’s petition and heard together in court due to the same issues being raised.

Company shares were down 2.9% to $19.73 apiece on Monday afternoon in Toronto, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of $12.62 to $28.39. 

Seabridge pointed out that although its name includes the word “commission”, the SEITC has no regulatory authority of any kind in relation to the SSD of KSM. The petitioners ask that the SSD be ruled unreasonable and want it set aside and remitted to the minister for reconsideration.

The first petition challenging the SSD on the grounds that it was unreasonable was filed on Nov. 22, 2024, by the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha First Nation. In the hearing on both petitions, the petitioners have to establish that the minister’s decision was unreasonable, not simply incorrect.