Prince George, BC – It’s full steam ahead for expansion plans at Thompson Creek Metal’s Endako Mine near Fraser Lake, with the issuance of a Mines Act permit amendment announced by the provincial government on Friday.

The $600-million dollar expansion will amalgamate the mine’s three pits – it’s been in the works for the past three years, moving through the permitting process.  As part of that expansion, a newly minted mill went into production on February 1st that increased production of molybdenum from 16-thousand tonnes to 55-thousand tonnes. The old ore processor and regrind circuit have yet to be replaced, but once they are, production is expected to climb to from 10-million pounds to 16-million pounds annually.

Nechako Lakes MLA, John Rustad, says this is the ‘final piece’ in what he admits has been a lengthy process to go through to get 11 different permits under three different Acts.

"We’ve got to find a way to do this better," says Rustad.  "For an existing operation and an expansion within the existing permit, surely we can find a way to be able to streamline some of that, without compromising environmental standards."

The area MLA says it is situations like this that are being looked at as part of the premier’s commitment to reducing some of the backlog and reviewing the various processes applications go through in an effort to find ways to streamline and boost investor confidence.  He points to the Mount Milligan copper/gold mine project as another recent example – saying the provincial government gave Thompson Creek a mining permit and environmental ticket, the federal government gave them an environmental ticket, yet it still took another six months or so to get the permit for a Hydro line.  Rustad feels some of the processes should be able to flow concurrently.

The Endako expansion has provided an employment opportunity for 36 workers displaced by the disaster at Babine Forest Products sawmill.  The workers have helped to start up the new mill and the jobs may lead to permanent employment.  In total, the project is expected to create approximately 160 new jobs and sustain a total of 400 employees in the north with mining reserves sufficient to continue operations until at least 2028.