The fate of
a full-on mine construction boom
that begins in B.C.’s far northwest might rest on a decision mining giant Newmont Corp. aims to make on its next megaproject later this year.
Newmont’s $2.4 billion Red Chris copper and gold mine extension is significant enough to have earned a place on both Premier David Eby’s priority list of 18 resource projects considered critical to economic diversification and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s list of potentially nation-building developments.
“Our approach to Red Chris is deliberate,” David Thornton, Newmont’s managing director for the Americas, said Tuesday to a luncheon audience at the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C.’s annual convention.
“We’re not driven by timelines alone, but by readiness, ensuring that when decisions are made, the project is technically sound,
and positioned to operate safely for decades,” Thornton said.
That said, Thornton added Newmont’s focus is to complete a feasibility study first, aiming to make a final investment decision in the second half of this year.
The decision will be contingent on a satisfactory feasibility result and environmental approval in a consent-based process with the Tahltan First Nation — in whose territory Red Chris is located.
Newmont, the world’s biggest gold producer, took over the Red Chris mine and the Brucejack gold mine in 2023 when it bought Newcrest Mining Ltd. for $26 billion.
While Canada and B.C. focus on ramping up critical minerals mining, Thornton said Newmont expects both mines to support the company’s operations in B.C. “for decades to come.”
Proceeding on the extension, which could extend the mine’s life some 12 to 15 years, would see Newmont hiring up to 1,800 workers to transition the project from surface, open-pit mining to underground block-cave mining techniques.
And they would be doing so in the same time frame as a neighbouring, recently approved mine project: Skeena Resources Ltd.’s Eskay Creek gold and silver mine.
Thornton made his speech at the mineral-exploration conference just a few hours after the province announced approval of the $713 million Eskay Creek project, also in a consent-based process with the Tahltan, to reopen the mothballed underground mine as an open-pit operation.
Skeena Resources still needs final permits, but the company will also require 1,500 construction workers at its peak of construction, aiming for initial production as early as 2027.
Construction on both, if it proceeds as intended, will happen at the same time the Mining Industry Human Resources Council has reported employment hitting record levels across the country and projects being delayed due to bottlenecks in recruiting new workers, particularly in the trades.
The Eskay Creek mine site, some 200 kilometres northeast of Prince Rupert, is about 130 kilometres away from the Red Chris mine site. Thornton, however, looks at Eskay Creek’s approval as a positive — from Newmont’s perspective — even if there is an overlap in their recruiting efforts.
“It’s fantastic,” Thornton said in an interview. “I think as we see the growth of mining in that region, the advantage that you see as you start to increase the number of mines, the number of assets, then you can start to build that good base of workforce infrastructure.”
“There will be pressure for talent and there will be pressure for some of the infrastructure (needed),” Thornton said. “How do we find a great, balanced approach to that is something I think we can all work together and work with the Tahltan Nation and the communities there on how do we make sure we can manage that growth.”
Thornton added that Newmont, as a company, is confident in its ability to bring in the people it needs to, beyond the immediate region.
“The reality is a lot of our team members fly in and fly out,” Thornton said. “We fly people in from all over Canada into that region, so from a labour side, I think we can manage it.”
“But the infrastructure investment will be key.”
