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

Tahltan Nation Development Corp. and Central Mountain Air Ltd. March 9 announced the finalization of a contract with Newcrest Mining Ltd. for air transportation of crews to and from the Red Chris copper-gold mine in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

"TNDC is honoured to join forces with Central Mountain Air to provide safe, reliable aviation services for this valued client," said Tahltan Nation Development Corp. CEO Paul Gruner. "This is another exciting opportunity for TNDC at Red Chris and ensures regional businesses benefit from this powerhouse project."

The Red Chris flight charter contract cements a partnership established between TNDC and Central Mountain Air in September. Central Mountain Air, which is the preferred chartered air service provider in the Tahltan territory, also provides charter flights to Skeena Resources Ltd.'s Eskay Creek gold-silver mine revitalization project in the region.

The CMA Group first provided Red Chris air charter services in 2012 and has been providing workforce crew transportation to Red Chris since 2018 under a contract with Imperial Metals Corp., the previous operator and current 30% owner of the mine. Newcrest, one of the world's largest gold mining companies, has been the operator of Red Chris since it acquired 70% ownership of the operation in 2019.

The new two-year agreement confirms Central Mountain Air remains the provider of air charter services for Red Chris crew flights under Newcrest operation.

This includes weekly charters from several marshaling points in BC and Alberta – Vancouver, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Kelowna, Williams Lake, Prince George, and Calgary – into Smithers and then onto Dease Lake.

TNDC provides crew transport by highway coach from the Dease Lake Airport to the mine site.

"Central Mountain Air appreciates the opportunity to continue to provide the Newcrest Mining team with safe and dedicated air charter services and looks forward to continuing our long history of proven excellent performance and customer service," said Central Mountain Air President Doug McCrea. "We are also pleased to formalize our partnership with TNDC through this contract and look forward to a lasting, meaningful and respectful relationship with the Tahltan Nation."

The air charter contract expands the services TNDC, the business arm of the Tahltan Nation, is providing at Red Chris in collaboration with business partners.

In addition to crew transport, TNDC provides tailings impoundment area construction, underground mining portal exploration, underground explosives, geotechnical and explorational drilling, and concentrate hauling.

The charter contract also complements TNDC's growing air support business. As the Dease Lake Airport contract operator, TNDC serves the Red Chris charter flights.

"We appreciate the continued support and confidence of the Newcrest Mining team in TNDC and our service partnerships," said Gruner.

Tahltan Central Government

A map showing the mineral claims and conservation areas with the Tahltan territory, which covers 70% of BC's Golden Triangle. Click on the image for a larger view of the map.

Further details on TNDC and a recent contract to sell Sandvik mining equipment in the Tahltan territory can be found at Tahltan now sells Sandvik equipment in the February 18, 2021 edition of North of 60 Mining News.

The Golden Triangle area of BC where Red Chris is located is nearly synonymous with the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, which has taken an increasingly active role in ensuring that exploration and mining the rich mineral resources in its homeland is beneficial to Tahltan people and not detrimental to the cultural and environmental resources found there.

TNDC says the Red Chris air service contract is a stellar example of the power of partnership between the mining industry, service providers, and indigenous businesses in strengthening capacity, collaboration, and relationships.

In addition to uniting the two long-established northwestern British Columbia businesses to serve resource projects in the region, the TNDC-Central Mountain Air partnership paves the path for new aviation career opportunities for Tahltans.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (907) 726-1095
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-lasley-ab073b12/