Premier Christy Clark highlighted Thursday the recently-announced expansion of the Huckleberry copper mine near Houston as a step towards the provincial government's ambitious goals for the sector.
At a media event at the Prince George Civic Centre, Clark reiterated the objective under the jobs plan she rolled out in September of opening eight new mines and expanding nine others by 2015.
"Part of that jobs plan is a commitment to invest $24 million across resource industries over two years to clear up the backlog of permitting," Clark said. "This is an example that it's working."
The mine received approval on Dec. 30 to start the expansion in 2012. It will maintain the jobs of 230 employees for the next nine years and add about 70 new ones and Clark emphasized they will be well-paying, family-supporting jobs.
"It's important to translate it to your own personal circumstances, to put yourself in someone else's shoes and think about if you went home tonight and if you've been worried about whether or not you were going to have a job in a year or two and you were able to say to your husband or your wife or your kids, 'Guess what sweetheart, I have a great paying job for another nine years,'" Clark said. "That's the difference that an announcement like this makes."
Members of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation will also benefit and Chief Richard Peters was on hand to express support.
"The relationship that's been going on between Huckleberry and Cheslatta has basically gone nowhere in the past and in the last year we started a commitment [towards] renewed relations between Huckleberry and Cheslatta," Peters said. "I think that it proves that First Nations and a company such as Huckleberry can work together for the benefit of not only our community but the community in general."
Clark later said the mine will provide employment for more than 20 per cent of the Carrier Cheslatta.
She also said an assessment of how much faster permits are being processed will be ready in the next few weeks.
"There have been thousands of permits that have been backlogged so we're at the beginning stages of it but we're making good progress," Clark said.
Huckleberry Mines Ltd. president Minoru Yamaguchi called the approval timely and evidence that the province is open to business.
Located 86 km southwest of Houston, the mine started production in 1997. A n exploration program with the goal of expanding the mine had been ongoing.
Production from 2011 to 2021 is estimated at 424 million pounds of copper with an average of 43.2 million pounds per year until 2019. Production in 2020 and 2021 will be reduced as stockpiles are milled.
Over the mine's life, $254.4 million will have been spent on wages and benefits, excluding contractors, $119 million on new acquisitions and $82 million on dam construction
