Minister Optimistic Galore Creek Will Move Forward

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - Minister of State for Mining, Kevin Krueger says the Galore Creek project will  go ahead, sooner rather than later.

“I’ve always believed that this is a temporary thing they need to have a second look.”  Galore Creek has announced it has a new management team that is indeed taking a second look.

Krueger says the problem is the tailings dam which is a federal regulation, and it involves a whole lot of material.  Engineers thought the material could be moved using existing equipment, but the machinery is too large so it would take two years longer to set up the mine and cost a billion dollars more. 

“I fully believe they will go ahead.  The mining industry has been exploring the last two years and they have come up with nothing that comes close to the Galore Creek project.  The world needs that deposit.”

The Galore Creek project would have provided about 1500 construction jobs and was tied to the electrification of the Highway 37 corridor.

Krueger says the way communities will thrive and survive post pine beetle, is  mining.

“I recently flew to the Mount Milligan project, and I was hurt when I saw the ocean of dead trees.”

Mining sustains communities, says Krueger, who pointed our mining pumped $650 million dollars in taxes, fees and royalties into the provincial coffers in the past year.

There has been an 800% increase in the dollars spent in mineral exploration.  There are more than 500 exploration projects in B.C. “We have tremendous geology in B.C.” says Krueger who says there is every reason to believe there are significant deposits in the   trough Between Mt Milligan and Mount Polly that will provide opportunities for new mines.

With news of the Quest project (to identify potential deposits) over 750 thousand hectares of the trough   have already staked and we have the potential for a great deal more.”

There is an enhanced tax credit of 30% for exploration in areas that have been hit by the mountain pine beetle.

Krueger says the province has been spending money on cleaning up some mining messes of the past, “The Britannia mine used to ooze orange, but since the clean up efforts, there is now clean water coming from that site.”

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