B.C. gold mine faces major obstacles

By Nelson Bennett
Business Vancouver

goldpick160Some time this summer, Seabridge Gold Inc. (TSX:SEA) hopes to clear the first major hurdle on a proposed $5.3 billion mega-mine project near the Alaska Panhandle: getting an environmental assessment certificate.

Located 65 kilometres northwest of Stewart, B.C., and 30 kilometres from the Alaskan border, the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project is four deposits that would be mined as a combined open-pit and underground gold, copper, silver and molybdenum mine.

The operation would be in two locations connected by twin 23-kilometre-long tunnels, which would be used to transport miners and ore. It would produce an estimated 130,000 tonnes of ore per day and employ 930 miners — three times the number to be employed at the new Red Chris mine, which is due for commissioning in August.

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