North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

IDM Mining Ltd. Aug. 29 said a provincial decision on its application for the development of an underground gold mine at its Red Mountain gold-silver project near Stewart, British Columbia, is expected by mid-October.

The British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office has completed its review of IDM Mining's proposal for the Red Mountain Mine and forwarded the application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy; and Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources for a decision. The ministers now have up to 45 days to make a decision on the issuance of the environmental certificate. In addition to a yes or no decision, the ministers could require further assessment.

"Our vision for BC's next high-grade bulk underground gold mine is another step closer. We believe that the proposed low-footprint Red Mountain operation will have obvious benefits to my hometown of Stewart, to Nisga'a citizens and to residents throughout northwestern BC," said IDM Mining President and CEO Robert McLeod.

In 2017, IDM submitted the application for an underground gold mine at Red Mountain, mill and tailings site in the adjacent Bitter Creek Valley, water treatment facilities, access road from Highway 37 just north of Stewart, BC and powerline interconnection from BC Hydro grid. The application review phase included environmental and socioeconomic reviews with dozens of technical working group members and stakeholders, with respectful and thorough consultation with the Nisga'a Nation, the First Nations people of this region of northwestern British Columbia.

This kicked off a 180-day legislated application review period under the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act on Nov. 1. In March, IDM requested a temporary suspension of the application review period to allow for final resolution of several outstanding technical comments and information requests.

With the outstanding questions answered, the suspension was lifted in July, leading to the B.C Environmental Assessment Office completing its review on Aug. 28. Getting through the 180-day review period is the largest step in the permitting process for a mine in British Columbia.

"We are very pleased that we have been able to resolve all key issues relating to the environmental assessment of the Red Mountain Project" said IDM Mining Chairman Michael McPhie. "We are confident that a positive decision from the Ministers will be made in the near-term and look forward to moving ahead with the development of the project."

A feasibility study completed for Red Mountain in 2017 outlines plans for a 1,000-metric-ton-per-day operation that is expected to average roughly 78,000 ounces of gold per year over an initial six-year mine-life.

The study identified a number of areas to enhance the proposed Red Mountain Mine.

Optimization studies since the completion of the feasibility study have focused on metallurgy and processing, road design, geohazards, and powerline interconnection with BC Hydro.

IDM has also expanded and upgraded the Red Mountain resource since completion of the feasibility study.

This underground mine development project now hosts 2.77 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 7.91 grams per metric ton (704,600 oz) gold and 22.75 g/t (2.77 million oz) silver.

This updated mineral resource, along with information gathered from the optimization work, will inform an updated feasibility study expected to be completed in the autumn of 2018.

"We look forward to continuing to increase resources and making new discoveries at Red Mountain, as well as completing the updated feasibility study incorporating value engineering improvements from the 2017 study and the increased measured and indicated resources from the June 2018 resource estimate."

–SHANE LASLEY