Women in Mining Trailblazer joins Kutcho

Kutcho Copper Corp. July 4 named Sue Craig as vice president of community and environment, replacing Allison Armstrong who will be moving into an advisory role for the company.

As a highly-respected professional geoscientist, Craig has worked in British Columbia and Yukon for more than 25 years on projects from the exploration and development stage to construction, production and mine closure.

She successfully led the environmental assessment process for Novagold Resources' Galore Creek copper-gold project in northwestern British Columbia and played a key role in establishing the project's participation agreement with the Tahltan First Nation. She was co-recipient of the inaugural 2007 Robert R. Hedley Award, presented by the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia, for her "excellence in social and environmental responsibility" on the Galore Creek project.

From 2013 to 2016, Craig was the Director of Government and Community Relations for Aurico Gold as the Kemess underground gold-copper project in north-central B.C. entered the environmental assessment process. She also collaborated with a First Nation to implement a socioeconomic accord related to a mining project in Yukon in 1995, one of the first of these types of agreements in Canada.

In 2016, Craig was recognized by AME for her "exceptional meritorious service to the mineral exploration community" with the Gold Pan Award. She has served as the chair of AME Mineral Exploration Roundup, as well as a board member of AME, and is currently a director of Yukon Energy Corp. and president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines. She has received a number of awards recognizing her contributions toward environmental stewardship and sustainable development, and was the recipient of the 2017 Canadian Women in Mining Trailblazer award.

"We are extremely happy to welcome Sue Craig to the Kutcho Copper team," said Kutcho Copper President and CEO Vince Sorace. "She brings a wealth of experience with regards to permitting, community relations and environment specific to British Columbia."

Experience the company will put to work as they advance the Kutcho Copper project in northern B.C. towards feasibility and permitting.

Kutcho Copper acquired this advanced stage copper exploration project from Capstone Mining Corp. in 2017.

A prefeasibility study prepared at the time of the acquisition outlines a mine at the Kutcho project that would produce 378 million pounds of copper and 473 million lb of zinc, plus by-product gold and silver, over 12 years of production.

This PFS is based on 10.44 million metric tons of reserves averaging 2.01 percent (463 million lb) copper, 3.19 percent (734 million lb) zinc, 0.37 grams per metric ton (125,000 oz) gold and 34.6 g/t (11.62 million oz) silver.

In preparation for a feasibility study expected to be completed in 2019, this year's work at Kutcho includes geotechnical work on the deposits; an infill drill program to upgrade a portion of the inferred mineral resources to measured and indicated categories, which can then be converted to reserves; additional metallurgical test work; and environmental baseline studies.

In addition to upgrading resources, the 2018 drill program will test exploration targets on the Kutcho property.

–SHANE LASLEY