The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Will provide year-round access to mineral-rich area of NWT North of 60 Mining News – March 12, 2021
A future gold mine at the Colomac project on Nighthawk's Indin Lake project would benefit from the Tlicho Road and potential extensions of the road system deeper into the mineral-rich areas of Northwest Territories.
Nighthawk Gold Corp. March 11 reported that the Tlicho Road connecting the community of Whati, Northwest Territories to Highway 3 remains on pace to be completed this fall.
Being constructed along an existing winter route, the Tlicho Road will bring all-season access 97 kilometers (60 miles) closer to Nighthawks Indin Lake gold property, which lies about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Whati.
The construction of this road into mineral-rich areas is being funded through a public-private partnership, with the federal government providing 25% of the capital costs. The remainder is being funded by the territorial government, which is working in partnership with the Tlicho First Nations government to advance the project.
"The commitment of the federal, territorial and the Tlicho Government on this infrastructure project, and their progress to date is very encouraging," said Nighthawk Gold President and CEO Keyvan Salehi.
Construction of the 97-kilometer Tlicho Road began in the fall of 2019 and, despite a delay last year due to COVID-19, crews have cleared the entire right-of-way and completed three of the four bridges along the route.
"Based on the anticipated timeline of construction, the road is scheduled to be completed and open to the public by the fall of this year," said Salehi. "This new all-season road will provide the citizens of the Tlicho Nation with transportation efficiencies to reduce the cost of living within the region and foster social opportunities by linking the more remote communities such as Whatı̀. As well, this will ultimately result in better winter road access to our Indin Lake gold property."
According to the latest calculation, Indin Lake hosts 38.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.81 grams per metric ton (2.25 million ounces) gold; and 11.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.13 g/t (790,000 oz) gold.
Colomac, the most advanced project on the 899-square-kilometer (347 square miles) Indin Lake property, hosts 17.9 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.62 g/t (930,000 oz) gold.
While Nighthawk is not dependent on the road for its ongoing exploration, and a future gold mine at Colomac would not require year-round surface access, the Tlicho all-season road would make it easier and less expensive to deliver equipment and supplies to Indin Lake.
If the Canadian, Northwest Territories, and Tlicho governments decide to provide other communities with all-season road access, the highway system could end up running through the middle of the Indin Lake property.
"The continuation of an all-season road, through our property to the community of Wekweeti is a logical next step and something that we will strive to advocate for as we continue to advance our assets," Salehi said.
In addition to Indin Lake, the Tlicho Road will bring vital surface access much closer to Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project, which will need road access to deliver concentrates to market.
Located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Whati, Nico hosts enough mineral reserves to support a 21-year mine that would average 1,615 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt; 41,300 ounces of gold; 1,750 metric tons of bismuth; and 265 metric tons of copper per year.
This operation detailed in a 2014 feasibility study is based on 33.1 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.11% cobalt, 0.14% bismuth, 0.04% copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton gold.
This mix of metals in a potential Canadian mine makes Nico an intriguing prospect for those wanting to see more critical minerals mined and refined in North America.
Fortune has already received its environmental assessment approval and the major permits needed to build the mine, including a 50-kilometer (30 miles) spur road to Whati. This spur, coupled with the Tlicho Road, would connect Nico to Canada's contiguous road system and allow for concentrates rich in base, precious, and critical minerals to be delivered to market.
Much like Indin Lake, Nico is located along an ice road between Whati and the community of Gameti about 68 kilometers (42 miles) north of the proposed mine. An extension of the Tlicho Road to Gameti would be another logical choice for expanding Northwest Territories' highway network.
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.
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