The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - April 11, 2024
Seabridge geologists investigate the Mitchell deposit where mining is slated to begin at the KSM copper-gold-silver project in Northern B.C.
Seabridge Gold Inc. April 11 announced that its primary objective for 2024 is to enter into "a joint venture agreement on the KSM project with a suitable partner on terms advantageous to Seabridge shareholders."
Each year, Seabridge's board of directors assembles a list of objectives for which to measure the company's annual performance, with each goal being assigned a weighting percentage based on importance, a sort of grade card for the year.
Accounting for 20.5% of the overall corporate objective, entering a JV for the company's world-class KSM copper-gold project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle is by far the highest priority goal for 2024. In fact, activities directly related to KSM accounted for nearly half (49.5%) of the top objectives assigned by the board.
Seabridge's remaining 2024 objectives are focused on its other four projects in Northern B.C., Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nevada, as well as general corporate goals.
Aside from bringing on a JV partner with the financial and technical wherewithal to advance KSM into production, here are the other objectives related to the world-class gold-copper project in B.C.'s Golden Triangle, and their ranking of importance:
• Achieve a positive Substantial Start decision from the B.C. government ensuring that KSM environmental approvals are valid for the life of the project (13%).
• Secure a minimum of $50 million in new funding to continue to advance construction activities at the BC Hydro switching station which will provide low cost, green hydro power for KSM (12%).
• Prepare Seabridge Gold and its subsidiary KSM Mining ULC for transition to a JV partnership (4%).
A substantially started designation by the BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy will keep the previously approved environmental assessment certificate (EAC) for KSM in effect for the life of the mine project.
To make the EAC permanent, the environment minister must determine that enough physical work has been completed to surpass a certain on-site construction threshold. Other mining projects in Northern BC, including Newmont Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd.'s Galore Creek copper-gold project, have been granted the substantially started designation.
Seabridge, which has invested roughly C$1 billion (US$730 million) into KSM since 2001, including more than C$444 million (US$324.5 million) over the past three years, has already applied for substantially started status with the B.C. government.
"The permanent physical improvements we have made to the KSM site are truly impressive," Seabridge Gold Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk said in January. "Since launching our early construction program three years ago, a proposed mine development that only existed on paper is now taking physical shape on the ground with roads and bridges, permanent living facilities for our personnel, hydroelectric power infrastructure, and new fish habitat compensation projects."
The Bell-Irving River Bridge, which is improving safety and logistics for the development of a mine at KSM, is among the many upgrades Seabridge has invested in ahead of bringing on partner to finish development of the copper-gold mine project in B.C.'s Golden Triangle.
The site improvements at KSM are being built to support a mine at the largest undeveloped gold and third-largest undeveloped copper project on the planet.
According to the most recent calculation, KSM hosts 153.9 million ounces of gold and 54.5 billion pounds of copper in all resource categories (88.3 million oz of gold and 19.4 billion lb of copper in measured and indicated, and 65.6 million oz of gold and 35.1 billion lb in inferred).
A mid-2022 prefeasibility study detailed plans for developing an open pit mining operation at KSM capable of producing more than 1 million oz of gold, 3 million oz of silver, 178 million pounds of copper and 4.2 million lb of molybdenum annually for 33 years.
While this would be a world-class mine in its own right, it does not even consider an underground-focused mine capable of producing another 14.3 million oz of gold, 14.3 billion lb of copper, 68.2 million oz of silver, and 13.8 million lb of molybdenum over 39 years.
If Seabridge meets its 2024 corporate goals, by the end of this year a global mining company with the treasury and experience to take this world-class project into production will have entered into a partnership with Seabridge by the end of the year.
As Seabridge advances its ultimate 2024 objectives surrounding the transfer of KSM into a JV, the other half of its focus remains on advancing its other gold enriched projects and continuing to achieve its longstanding corporate goals.
Here are the remaining 2024 objectives assigned by the Seabridge board:
• File a new technical report for the Bronson Slope target on the Iskut property about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of KSM that incorporates 2023 drill results into an updated resource estimate, as well as complete at least 12,500 meters to evaluate two deep copper-gold porphyry targets at Iskut (6.5%).
• Exit 2024 with more gold resources per common share than reported at the end of 2023. This has been a perennial goal that Seabridge has been able to achieve throughout its corporate existence. This year, however, is the first that the caveat that this calculation would include 100% of the gold at KSM is required (6%).
• Complete at least 8,000 meters of drilling at the high-grade 3 Aces gold project in the Yukon to evaluate resource expansion potential at three targets in the Central Core Area and complete an initial evaluation on three regional targets (5.5%).
• Continue to strengthen its social license with Indigenous Partners and local communities. Seabridge has worked closely with the Nisga'a and Tahltan First Nations in Northern B.C., including a partnership with the Tahltan Nation to clean up environmental impacts from legacy mining on the Iskut property.
• Initiate and advance a process to sell or joint venture the Courageous Lake gold project in Northwest Territories to unlock shareholder value. A recently completed feasibility study for Courageous Lake outlines plans for a mine expected to produce 2.5 million oz of gold over an initial 12.6 years of mining (4.5%).
• Remain in compliance with permit conditions, reporting, regulator inspections and regulator technical requests for all projects (4.5%).
• Promote a positive culture of health and safety through continuous improvement in key leading indicators and initiatives implemented in 2023 (4%).
• Continue to mature corporate risk management programs and systems (3.5%).
• Continue to improve cyber-security systems to ensure ongoing confidentiality and integrity of company data and employee access to it (3%).
• Continue to evaluate the potential for a Getchell style gold discovery on the Snowstorm project and progress the permitting on a Northern Nevada rift target on the Goldstorm property about two miles (three kilometers) east of Snowstorm (3%).
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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