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A message from the Premier
BC workers have a big role to play in this changing world
DAVID EBY Premier of BC
The world is a much different place today than it was a year ago.
Our forest sector, long a cornerstone of the BC economy, is under direct attack by Donald Trump. Canada and British Columbia now face higher tariffs on wood products sent to the United States than Russia does.
EMPOWERING OUR WORLD
FROM THE GROUND UP
Families are grappling with a rising cost
of living at the same time as the global economy is slowing. Other provinces face even greater challenges than we do in this changing environment.
But there is nowhere I would rather be to face these big challenges than right here in British Columbia. Thanks to the remarkable resources of our province, particularly in the north, and our access to global markets through our ports, we will be the economic engine that drives the new Canadian economy forward.
Hard-working Already we’re leading Canada in private sector jobs created in the last 12 months — but we have more to do.
I sit around the table with premiers across Canada discussing major projects and how to get the national economy moving. After what I’ve heard in those conversations, which focus mostly on multibillion-dollar public investments instead of private sector projects, it is no surprise to me that 40 per cent of the major projects listed by the federal government on their major project list are located in British Columbia.
These private sector projects that were listed, LNG Canada Phase 2 and the Red Chris mine, are worth tens of billions of dollars in investment and will deliver thousands of jobs. They are just two of dozens of private sector projects in our province that are nearing final investment decision.
To support almost $50 billion in mining
investment in the north and create almost 10,000 full-time jobs, we have taken action to build the North Coast Transmission Line as fast as possible.
This electrification reduces the cost of operating a mine, reduces carbon emissions from mining, and gets companies to final investment faster. It’s not surprising that Anglo Teck, a world-leading mining company, has promised to move its corporate headquarters here once its merger is complete – making it the largest ever company to locate in British Columbia.
To stand on our own two feet as a country, we need to sell into global markets. Our major projects do just that, finding new global customers for our incredible bounty of natural resources, including energy, minerals and forestry. A new BC trade presence in the UK will expand our reach to North Africa, the Middle East and increase our European Union presence.
The only way this work will succeed is if we continue to support our most important resource of all — the skilled and hardworking people of British Columbia.
Canadians face significant challenges, absolutely, but here in British Columbia we are on the path together to driving the Canadian economy forward. That’s something we should all be proud of.
David Eby is the premier of British Columbia.
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO BY TED CLARKE
Partners in Blackwater Gold cut the ribbon to official open the mine 160 km SW of Prince George. From left are Steven Dean, Artemis Gold chairman and CEO; Vancouver real estate investor Ryan Beedie; June Baptiste, acting chief of Lhoosk’uz Dené Nation, Premier David Eby; Corinne Cahoose, councilor Ulkatcho First Nation; and Jagrup Brar, BC minister of mining and critical minerals.
ERIC BOWLING
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The federal government is aiming to have a two-year turnaround from receiving proposals for nation-building projects to getting shovels in the ground, Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand told NNSL Media.
A shortlist of initial projects ready for approval and deemed in the national interest was released on Sept. 11 following a three-day fed-
Federal government aims for two-year major projects turnaround A message from the Minister
eral cabinet retreat in Edmonton. A second list of projects with “near approval” status was also released, which included two NWT proposals: the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Arctic economic and security corridor. The latter project will consist of an all-season road from Yellowknife to Grays Bay, Nunavut, where a deep-sea port is proposed for construction.
The projects also include carbon capture in Alberta, expanding the port in Churchill, Man., a wind
project in Atlantic Canada and highspeed rail between Toronto and Montreal.
“When we’re looking at readiness, we want to ensure the regulations have been considered, the permitting, the design, the financing,” Chartrand said on Sept. 12. “These projects are further along the way, this just gives them the boost to keep going.
“With any project, we want to meet a two-year window to shovel readiness.”
The minister said her understanding is that the Mackenzie Valley Highway is undergoing an environmental assessment that is supposed to be completed by 2027. One of the goals of the Major Projects Office, she noted, is to accelerate the regulatory process while ensuring all stakeholders are being heard.
This article originally appeared in NNSL media publications.
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA PHOTO Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand says the federal government is aiming to have a two-year turnaround time from proposals to approval for major projects.
Mackenzie mayor elated over plan to create industrial hub
BMI Group has purchased the town’s now-closed mill
TED CLARKE Citizen Staff
After taking a series of mill-closure body blows that left the town of Mackenzie staggering on the ropes, there’s finally some good news on the economic horizon for the resource-dependent town 200 kilometres north of Prince George.
Ontario-based BMI Group has purchased the former Mackenzie Pulp Mill and plans to restore and refurbish the mill into an industrial hub known as Willmarck Mackenzie to create new work opportunities for the 3,700 residents of the region.
“What they’re basically going to do is turn a liability into an asset for our community,” said Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson.
“Right now it’s a shuttered pulp mill, with all the environmental concerns that come with it. The BMI Group are a real estate development business and they take dormant industrial sites and repurpose them. At this point there’s no definite plan as to what the outcome will be for this property and what kind of business will end up going on it. They will come in and make it an attractive
piece real estate for people to maybe start business.
“It’s exciting news for the community for sure.”
The site already has a CN Rail corridor, easy access to Highway 97, and hydro power service built to meet the high load demands of a pulp mill. Mackenzie also has a workforce to draw from capable of meeting the requirements of the BMI Group. Atkinson said she will know more in the coming weeks about many jobs for her town the new venture will create, but it could significant enough to replace some of the lost industrial tax base since the mill closed.
“It’s cheaper for business to repurpose a brownfield site (than to) start from scratch and have to put in water and sewer, rail and hydro, and this has all that stuff,” said Atkinson.
BMI purchased the property from Domtar, and that deal closed in early October. The mill sits on an 885-acre industrial site five km southwest of the town on the shore of Willison Lake. The mill has 345,00 square feet of industrial building space.
Mackenzie serves two mines in the region that provide employment for 150 families and that’s been key in keeping the area’s economy vibrant. Conuma Coal is about a three-hour drive east of Mackenzie (272 kilometres) at Tumbler Ridge, while Mount Milligan gold mine is 100 km west.
Representatives from The BMI Group will tour the site in the last week of October and CEO Paul Veldman said they will be open to suggestions from community members as to what they envision for an industrial hub and how a repurposed mill can best serve local needs.
“As a landing spot of hub for transportation (the mining sector) definitely has a role,” said Veldman. “Some of the pipeline work is being considered as well, and we’ve had some outreach in that regard for, if nothing else, a storage or laydown area for larger-scale projects in the region.
“We are fairly invested in bio-fuel related companies that take a fibre product and turn it into a fuel, and those projects that we’re certainly going to be looking at for Mackenzie as well.”
Former owners Domtar have already been approached by outside interests with ideas for the site, and potential suppliers from Prince George have contacted the new owners. Veldman says his company’s investment in the property will create jobs for the region but says it’s too early to accurately project how Willmarck Mackenzie will impact the local economy.
“It’s a key question being that a lot of jobs have been taken away from Mackenzie over the years with the various closures,” said Veldman. “We want to be very careful because the site’s also suffered from promises undelivered. I’d be very hesitant to put a defined jobs number of the table today this early in the process. We don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver.”
He said a typical biochar plant that turns wood waste into charcoal to produce heat and clean natural gas that would employ 20-25 workers, but the spin-off effect could create dozens more jobs. But that would only be part of the Mackenzie project. The mill site, which has significant rail-serviced warehouse space, will serve multi purposes.
“What we focus on is layering activi-
BMI GROUP PHOTO
The former Mackenzie paper mill has been purchased and will be transformed into a new industrial hub for Northern BC.
It’s cheaper for business to repurpose a brownfield site (than to) start from scratch and have to put in water and sewer, rail and hydro, and this has all that stuff “
ty,” said Veldman, “trying not to be a one-solution-only approach to jobs and redevelopment, whether it be transloading, energy-related projects or forestry-related.”
BMI Group has already hired Mackenzie Pulp Mill operations manager Michael
Clavet and two other mill employees and Veldman said more former workers will be considered for positions.
The name Willmarck is in reference to Williston Lake, BC’s largest lake and the seventh-largest reservoir in the world. The mill sits on the south shore of the lake. Marck is an Old English word that refers to borderlands and shared territory.
BMI will take on the task of mitigating the site to eliminate hazardous chemicals from the site and Domtar has already conducted drilling operations to identify the most polluted areas.
“We are required in the transaction to clean up the site to a certain reasonable standard and the Ministry of Environment is involved in that process, there’s clear guidelines when you idle a facility or close parts of a facility down,” said Veldman.
“We intend to comply with those standards but also go above and beyond in terms of the remediation of the site. We have a very dedicated environmental team that will oversee that work and we will engage with the Indigenous communities and partners to endure they’re
informed around all those issues.”
When Canfor closed its sawmill in 2019 the writing was on the wall for Mackenzie Pulp, which no longer had a steady supply of chips. It was permanently shut down in April 2021. after more than year of curtailments precipitated by the pandemic and a shortage of economic fibre.
Mackenzie’s residential taxpayers were forced to swallow a 10 per cent increase from 2024 to 2025 to make up for the $1.8 million hit to the district’s annual industrial tax base with the pulp mill and sawmill both shuttered.
“We used to get more than 50 per cent of our tax needs met by heavy industry and now that’s down to about 32 per cent,” said Atkinson. “There are still jobs in the community because we now have the high-paying mining jobs available.”
Mackenzie serves two mines in the region that provide employment for 150 families and that’s kept the economy vibrant. Conuma Coal is about a threehour drive east of Mackenzie (272 kilometres) at Tumbler Ridge, while Mount Milligan gold mine is 100 km west.
Started by 2001 by Paul, John and Justus Veldman, three brothers from Tilsonburg, Ont., The BMI Group derives its name from its project objectives – Betterment, Mobilization and Impact.
The company specializes in redeveloping industrial, commercial, residential, and hospitality properties for high-impact, multi-use purposes while focusing on enhancing social and economic potential.
This is BMI Group’s first BC venture. Veldman knows there are other mills that could be repurposed but there are no immediate plans to pursue other acquisitions in the province.
Earlier this year, BMI Group acquired the Espanola Mill in Ontario and is transforming that former Domtar paper mill into a bio-hub for alternate fuels and emerging technologies and Veldman said lessons learned on that project will be applied in Mackenzie.
The company also purchased Bioveld Niagara, a former paper/industrial site in Thorold, Ont., that’s being repurposed into a multimodal logistics and critical minerals hub.
Record gold, silver prices great news for Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine
Phase 2 expansion decision expected soon for mine 160 km southwest of Prince George
TED CLARKE Citizen Staff
All that glitters is gold — but the shine of silver is also highly attractive.
The Thanksgiving holiday brought record-high gold and silver prices in world markets, and prices have spiked considerably over the past two years, since major construction began on Blackwater Mine, 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George.
Gold was trading at $4,179.48 US per troy ounce on Oct. 14 — more than double what it was in October 2023, when it sold for $1,984.
The price of silver on Oct. 13 surpassed the $50 US mark for the first time since 1980.
Fueled by high prices for gold and silver, the mine owner, Artemis Gold, has accelerated plans for a Phase 2 expansion, and a decision on a finalized plan is expected within months.
“Phase 2 has the potential to increase production to over 500,000 gold equivalent ounces per year,” said Artemis
Gold spokesperson Crystal Sharwood.
“We are working on finalizing the Phase 2 strategy and execution plan, which is expected to be larger than the previous Phase 2 design, and are targeting board approval before the end of this year.”
The company has already placed separate orders with Finnish mining manufacturer Metso for a semi-autonomous grinding mill and an 18-megawatt ball mill. The ball mill is already fully fabricated due to another customer’s order cancellation — which should expedite the proposed expansion.
On Sept. 15, Artemis announced a plan to step up capacity by 33 per cent for its Phase 1 operation. The Phase 1A expansion will increase processing from six million tonnes per year (Mtpa) to eight million Mtpa by the time it’s fully commissioned, sometime in Q4 of 2026.
“To increase from six million tonnes per year to eight Mtpa, we will add new infrastructure to the existing wet plant including a new 3.5 MW vertical mill, new tanks for the leach circuit
and a few other minor additions,” said Sharwood.
The capital cost of that project is estimated between $100 million and $110 million, which Artemis said represents an industry-low $50–$55 per tonne of annual processing capacity.
“There are a couple of reasons that we can achieve an industry-low,” said Sharwood. “For one, we are adding on to existing infrastructure, not building something new. Second, this project requires limited new infrastructure, and the work will be in the wet plant only, with no changes to the crushing circuit required.”
Material to build a new vertical grinding mill has been ordered, and foundation work to support the new mill is already underway — requiring construction of a new concrete batch plant. The current mine fleet will support the Phase 1A expansion, and construction costs will be covered by the company’s existing cash flows.
“Phase 1A will be funded out of operating cash flows, and the payback period is expected to be less than six months,”
ARTEMIS GOLD PHOTO
Artemis Gold will have extracted between 190,00 and 230,000 ounces of gold from the Blackwater Mine, 160 km southwest of Prince George, by the end of 2025
said Sharwood. “We expect Phase 1A to de-risk and enhance future free cash flows that are aimed at funding a larger Phase 2 expansion.
“Previous expansion studies completed in early 2024 used a base case gold price of $1,800 US per ounce and showed robust economics. The current, much higher gold price significantly strengthens our ability to fund growth internally.”
Blackwater produced an average of 16,618 tonnes per day this year in Q3 — 101 per cent of the mine’s original design capacity estimates — despite a planned three-day shutdown in July to make modifications to the processing plant.
“For August and September 2025, the mill operated at 105 per cent of design capacity,” said Sharwood.
“As we continue to optimize the current Phase 1 operations, we expect this will allow Blackwater to consistently outperform its nameplate capacity, and we are targeting to be 10 per cent above nameplate capacity by year-end.”
Since the first gold/silver pour in January 2025 — which led to the start of commercial production on May 1 — through to the end of September, Blackwater has produced 124,328 ounces of gold.
“We remain well positioned to achieve full-year production guidance of 190,000 to 230,000 ounces of gold,” said Artemis CEO Dale Andres.
Andres assumed the chief executive duties on June 23 from company founder Steven Dean, who remains as executive chair and director.
The open-pit mine, built on the slopes of Mount Davidson, sits on reserves estimated at eight million ounces of gold and 62.3 million ounces of silver. Gold production was initially projected at 300,000 ounces for the first five years, increasing to 381,000 ounces in years six to 10. The lifetime of the mine is 22 years — but could reach 40 years.
Blackwater currently employs 540 workers.
ARTEMIS GOLD IMAGE
SNOWPLOWS
This shows the plans for the Phase 1A expansion of Blackwater Mine, which got underway in September.
SNOWPLOWS
Silica mine decision expected in early 2026
Vitreo Minerals Ltd. is looking to build a silica mining and processing project near Bear Lake
COLIN SLARK Citizen Staff
The CEO of a company proposing to build a silica mine 60 kilometres north of Prince George told the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George’s board of directors at a Thursday, Oct. 16 meeting that it expects to receive environmental approval sometime in early 2026.
Connecting remotely to the meeting was Scott Broughton, CEO of Vitreo Minerals Ltd., who told directors that the company has changed its logo to feature a maple leaf in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada.
Once built, the company’s proposed Angus Project in the regional district would harvest silica sand for use in fracking for liquified natural gas in the Montney Basin located in northeastern Alberta and northwestern British Columbia.
LNG from the basin is already being transported via the Coastal Gaslink pipeline to the LNG Canada terminal near Kitimat.
The sand would be extracted from a mine and raw sand plant located about 19 kilometres east of Highway 97 north of Prince George along Chuchinka Log Lake Forest Service Road and then processed at a finishing plant closed to the highway near Emerald and Crystal lakes about 10 kilometres south of Bear Lake.
In the fracking process, high-pressure water is used to open up underground geologic formations that hold oil and gas. Silica is used to prop open these fractures to keep the extraction process going.
“I’ll note that right now, the similar material that we’re going to make
is being imported all the way from Wisconsin in the U.S.,” Broughton said.
About seven million tons of silica is imported from Wisconsin, he said. Vitreo is not looking to replace all of that as they see demand rising substantially, but it is looking to provide some stability as the supply of the imported material has been threatened and the logistics of transporting it via CN Rail have proved challenging.
“We think that this mine could potentially last as long as there is LNG being pumped off the coast,” Broughton said. “The claim group is pretty substantial. We think there’s other opportunities for future mines.
The silica in the proposed mining area, he said, are naturally occurring in the right size of grain needed for the fracking
process. Those grains will be broken up from the rest of the material extracted from the site in a process that Broughton likened to a brick wall being broken down into individual bricks.
Some of the harvested material that isn’t needed for fracking will be left behind and once the operation is finished, the intent is to backfill the quarry and have it look similar to how it originally did before work started.
Operations at the mine will be seasonal, with mining not taking place during the winter months.
“We really don’t want to try to fight the wintertime,” he said. “We’ll use that period to do maintenance and whatnot on the equipment.
The finished plant will operate year-
round, with gas-fired kilns drying the sand that will go through final screening process before getting put into silos.
Baghouses and vacuum systems will be used to prevent dust escaping from the site.
To this point in the environmental assessment process, Broughton said lots of time and money have been expended as well as 20,000 pages of applications.
He partially credited the success of the work thus far to the company’s engagement with First Nations and nearby communities. A final application to the environmental assessment office is expected to be submitted by the end of October and the decision on whether to issue a certificate is expected in the first quarter of 2026.
We think that this mine could potentially last as long as there is LNG being pumped off the coast. The claim group is pretty substantial. We think there’s other opportunities for future mines.
However, ongoing strike action by government workers is slowing down the process, Broughton said.
Broughton explained to the board that consultations took place with McLeod Lake Indian Band and West Moberly First Nations, on whose traditional territories the project is located on.
There were also consultations with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and Tsay Keh Dene Nation, whose traditional territories are adjacent to the project’s footprint. All the nations except Tsay Keh Dene have participated in site visits, though Broughton said they would go to the site the week after.
He said he expects the project to create hundreds of new jobs and business opportunities, including contracting work for groups out of West Moberly and McLeod Lake.
“In fact, we’ve kind of imagined the mine to be completely run by contractors and primarily Indigenous contractors,” he said. “150 jobs during construction, 140 during that operation. Long-lived jobs —
we’re permitting a 20-year mine.”
There are also opportunities for the transportation of the mined and processed silica up to Chetwynd and Fort St. John, which Broughton said could created up to another 150 jobs.
In developing the project, Broughton said he’s come to love the area so much that he bought a property in Electoral Area D (Tabor Lake-Stone Creek), his daughter has started studies at the University of Northern BC and has son has previously worked at Powder King Mountain Resort.
Once the environmental assessment office makes a decision, Vitreo must apply for an amendment to the area’s Official Community Plan from the regional district, which will involve holding a public hearing and getting approval from BC’s Ministry of Transportation.
Presentation slides said the company estimates the development of the mine will bring around $300 million into the regional economy and around $250 million will be spent each year to operate
the facilities.
Alternate Director Jesse Wright (District of Mackenzie) said his community has been keeping a close eye on the project and sees a natural partnership with the mine when it comes to transporting the harvested silica.
He said the district’s economic development staff and chamber of commerce were eager to work with the company.
Director Jerrilyn Kirk (Crooked RiverParsnip), who represents the area where the mine will operate, said she appreciated the time Broughton had taken to explain the project to both her and Bear Lake residents. She also said it was nice to see his family put down roots in the area.
Director Simon Yu (City of Prince George) thanked Broughton and Vitreo for their participation in recent editions of the BC Natural Resources Forum held in Prince George every January and said he was looking forward to them attending once again in 2026.
Construction industry welcomes new rules on prompt payment for contractors
But Prince George homebuilder Myatovic says 28-day payment schedule could prove troublesome
TED CLARKE Citizen Staff
After years of BC’s construction industry asking for it, the province has responded by rolling out prompt payment legislation that establishes clear timelines on when contractors, subcontractors and workers will get paid for the work they do.
The bill, introduced just before the Thanksgiving break, requires contractors to be paid within 28 days after they’ve submitted an invoice, while subcontractors or sole proprietors will get their money within 35 days.
The changes are designed to eliminate payment uncertainty and prevent cash flow delays that have created hardships — especially for small- and medium-sized construction businesses — and will establish a mechanism to fast-track the adjudication process to resolve disputes over payments in a $29-billion sector that employs 250,000 British Columbians.
“It’s going to fundamentally change the way expectations have been set for time immemorial in construction in British Columbia and to the folks who are cynical, I feel that. We’ve seen it and have been knocking our heads against the wall for decades now to bring payment certainty to contractors,” said Chris Atchison, president of the BC Construction Association.
“We’ve seen a regime that enables negligence and inequity and that’s
why other jurisdictions in other countries and other provinces have moved towards payment certainty. Prompt payment legislation — coupled with adjudication and eventually lien act reform — is going to provide contractors throughout the construction pyramid with a guarantee of certainty.”
Atchison said there have been too many cases of contracts being ignored and primary contractors having to wait months beyond payment end dates to be compensated by project owners, and those delays trickle down to the sub-trades. With a regulatory framework in place, he said owners won’t be allowed to flout the rules and delay payments indefinitely.
BC is basing its prompt payment legislation on models adopted in Alberta and Ontario. Alberta’s updated regulations, introduced in December 2024, did not apply to public works projects, prompting an outcry that led to an April amendment that has no exemptions.
It’s expected BC’s prompt payment revisions will apply to public- and private-sector projects such as community centres, schools, hospitals, housing projects, roads, bridges and airports. But Chris Gardner, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, has concerns the tabled legislation does not spell that out.
“If they don’t change the legislation to include government, effectively on Day 1 of the law being passed
the whole purpose would be defeated because billions and billions of construction work would be excluded from this prompt payment legislation,” said Gardner. “Being silent on government was a mistake.”
He said the legislation is timely because BC contractors have greater concerns about getting paid after a sharp decline in residential construction and want clearly defined rules to protect them in the wake of a rash of bankruptcies filed by project owners.
“The residential sector is grinding down in a way we haven’t seen for a generation,” said Gardner. “If you had said to me 18 months ago you knew of five plumbers or electricians or carpenters who were looking for work, they would have been on a construction site the next day.
“To think now that we’ve gone through this past decade of really struggling to find enough skilled people to work in construction that we are now facing the prospect of significant layoffs in the construction industry — it’s quite an abrupt turn that caught quite a lot of people off-guard. It’s very bad.”
The bill is expected to pass into law sometime early in 2026. The province plans for a transition period to set up the adjudication process and provide information for businesses about their rights and responsibilities.
Prince George custom home builder Joe Myatovic of Myatovic Con-
“
The residential sector is grinding down in a way we haven’t seen for a generation. If you had said to me 18 months ago you knew of five plumbers or electricians or carpenters who were looking for work, they would have been on a construction site the next day.
struction said the 28-day payment rule isn’t going to work for him or most local contractors, who are used to working with a 90-day payment schedule.
“It’s going to slow the industry down — anybody can write a law, but you’ve got to get your money from Peter to pay Paul, and that takes more than 28 days,” Myatovic said.
“It’s too tight of a schedule. Forty-five days is more reasonable, but 28 is too short of a term.”
Myatovic said project owners typically hold back 10 per cent of payments for the work contractors and subcontractors do, and they don’t get fully paid until the project is complete or near completion. Sometimes that can take 18 months.
He cited the example of a condominium project in which he borrowed $5 million as the general contractor to get the project started, and how the system works before that money is handed over to the people who did the work.
“I don’t have $5 million in my bank account to pay these trades, so I’ve got to rely on government progress payments from the bank, and that all takes time,” said Myatovic.
“Say I do the framing work for it and I supply the labour. By the time you do the work, invoice them, then it’s got to go through the system, they’ve got to get government progress payments, it goes through the lawyers, accounting firm, appraisals — it’s way later than 28 days. These
small contracts, they all operate on mortgage draws and that takes a long time.
“I know government wants to legislate this to protect the trades and I understand that, but it’s not going to be smooth,” he said. “It will help people, but it’ll be a roller-coaster ride — it won’t be simple.”
Myatovic said he’d rather see the province focus more on reining in the cost of housing by easing off on regulations designed to meet environmental targets and energy-efficiency standards to make homes more affordable.
“We’ve got to make the building codes better, we’ve got to improve construction — triple-paned windows, HVACs, more insulation, more energy efficiency, and heat pumps is another thing — that all costs a lot of money,” he said. “We build all these things and put it on the market for $900,000 and nobody can buy it.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Prince George custom homebuilder Joe Myatovic of Myatovic Construction surveys one of the houses he’s building in University Heights subdivision. While the BC construction industry welcomes prompt payment legislation tabled by the provincial government, Myatovic is concerned the new rules requiring payments to contractors within 28 days of invoicing will be difficult to achieve.
Taseko Mines hoping to strike copper and gold near Vavenby
ABIGAIL POPPLE
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Thompson Nicola Regional District boasts temperate rainforests, vast plateaus and expansive deserts. It’s also home to a wealth of copper deposits sitting just outside of Dunn Peak Park.
Copper mining company Taseko Mines Ltd. is in the early stages of B.C.’s environmental assessment process, with the hopes of establishing an open-pit copper mine near Vavenby. The mine, known as the Yellowhead Project, would operate for 25 years and produce an estimated 180 million pounds of copper annually, the company predicts – an amount that may outpace the Gibraltar mine, a Williams Lake-based mine that has the second-largest copper output in
the country and is also owned by Taseko.
Copper is among the 34 substances the federal government classifies as a critical mineral. According to Natural Resources Canada, it’s used in electrical wires, solar cells and industrial machinery, among other products.
Copper from the Yellowhead mine would be shipped to the Port of Vancouver, where it would be sent overseas to be processed and marketed in China and Japan.
This isn’t the first time the area has caught the attention of mining companies. Yellowhead Mining Inc., which Taseko took ownership of in 2019, previously proposed a similar project. In 2015, B.C.’s Environmental Assessment
Office began to review the proposed Harper Creek Project – just months after the Mount Polley tailings dam breach, an incident that spilled eight million cubic meters of waste byproduct into water sources for nearby First Nations and is considered the worst mining disaster in B.C.’s history.
While neither Yellowhead Mining nor Taseko owns or operates the Mount Polley Mine, participants in the environmental assessment process decided to put the Harper Creek project on hold to consult further with Indigenous groups and revisit its tailings and water management approach in light of the incident. When Taseko acquired Yellowhead Mining in 2019, they officially withdrew from the
environmental assessment process and went back to the drawing board.
Six years later, Taseko executives say the provincial government and mining companies alike have made changes to prevent a similar incident from happening.
“The tailings storage facility would be constructed in a manner very similar to our Gibraltar tailings storage facility, which has operated safely for over 50 years and under our ownership for 20 years,” said Taseko Vice-President of Operations Richard Tremblay during a September 4th public information session.
The Ministry of Environment sent the Gibraltar Mine operators a warning letter
cont. next page
in August for issues with Gibraltar’s leach operations – the process of extracting copper from ore by applying an acidic solution to it – because the company did not show it is capturing all the waste from the leaching process.
“Ministry inspections are a normal part of the regulatory oversight that exists in British Columbia and findings are typically minor in nature but helpful in ensuring regulatory compliance,” Magee’s statement reads.
“Gibraltar’s record of tailings storage facility management over the past 20 years is exemplary,” he added, citing favorable reviews from the Independent Tailings Review Board.
The Ministry of Environment does not consider a company’s other projects during the review process, it said in a statement to The Goat.
Economic impacts
According to the initial project description filed with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, the
Yellowhead Project would directly create about 2,000 jobs during the construction phase, and create 590 jobs for the 25 years of the mine’s operation. These employment predictions are based on predictions from BC Stats, the Province’s statistical office, according to the report.
In a statement to The Goat, Magee said Taseko has a track record of providing local employment..
“Approximately 96 per cent of Gibraltar’s workforce of more than 800 people reside in nearby communities,” the statement reads. “At Florence Copper [in the U.S. state of Arizona], 70 per cent of our team currently lives in the surrounding area.”
However, mining reform advocates and researchers say mines tend to over-promise and under-deliver on job creation. Mining impacts and policy researcher with the advocacy group Wildsight, Simon Wiebe, said studies show mines typically fall short of their estimated economic output.
Wiebe pointed to a 2023 study led by
Simon Fraser University professor Rosemary Collard which audited three B.C. coal mines and found their economic benefits were overstated during the environmental assessment process. A subsequent study from Collard, “A timeline and economic benefit audit of British Columbia mines,” found that mines only produce about 53 per cent of their expected employment rates if they become operational. Many mines never open due to economic lulls that hurt the critical minerals industry, the study found.
“They’re not nearly as economically stimulative as they claim,” Wiebe said. “Then you go into the post-mine cleanup phase. We commissioned an environmental engineer to look into some of the costs that would go into water cleanup [for coal mines]... they came out to a number of 6.4 billion dollars over the next 100 years to operate the water treatment facilities they’ve planned to build.”
Director of mining reform advocacy group Northern Confluence, Nikki Skuce, said job creation is often weighed
against adverse environmental impacts during the assessment process.
“They’re willing to accept the environmental impacts and social impacts for the local jobs and tax benefits to the Province,” Skuce said in an interview with The Goat. “But there’s no following that. There’s no holding companies to account.”
“One of the recommendations we’re going to keep making is that we need the Province to actually track [economic benefits] or have it as a condition in the environmental assessment certificate.”
In a statement to The Goat, the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals said that while B.C. does not have formal requirements for mines to report on employment metrics, most mining companies in the province are publiclytraded, meaning they are required to formally report their financial performance to the BC Securities Commission.
“Many publicly traded mining companies also release annual cont. next page
sustainability reports highlighting metrics such as direct employment numbers, local procurement and supplier spending, and other economic [impacts].”
Environmental Impacts
The proposed Yellowhead Mine would operate for 25 years, but the impacts can last for several generations, experts say. Wiebe voiced concerns about the leaching process, which can result in heavy metals and acidic chemicals being released into the environment.
“Once they get the ore out of the ground, they sprinkle chemicals on it to leach the copper out, and then they can extract
the copper out of those liquids,” Wiebe said. “The trouble is that those chemicals are often not very healthy for anything. They end up sitting in the tailings dams and at best leaching away, and at worst, collapsing and poisoning entire downstream communities.”
And when chemicals like selenium, a common byproduct of mining, find their way into bodies of water, it can have huge upstream impacts, Wiebe said.
“When you put a heavy metal in large quantities in a waterway, a lot of the time certain ones end up getting bioaccumulated. It will get slowly absorbed into aquatic plants,” he said.
“When you go up the food chain, all of a sudden you’re starting to get relatively high concentrations that could be damaging to aquatic life.”
That could mean chronic issues for fish like reproductive failures, leading to population collapse in extreme cases, he said. It also means humans may not be able to safely eat affected fish.
The Ministry of Environment said the Yellowhead Project has received significant public interest throughout the early environmental assessment stages. There will be at least three more public comment periods before a verdict is issued, though there is not yet a set
timeline for the next public comment opportunities.
Wiebe said public comments are a valuable way for residents to share any feedback they have.
“I’ve participated in a few environmental assessments, and they’re the most robust and transparent mining review that we have here in B.C.,” Wiebe said. “It’s by no means a perfect process, but it’s the best and most transparent thing that we have.”
This article originally appeared in The Rocky Mountain Goat
TOM FISK/PEXELS PHOTO
This stock photo of an operating gold mine offers a look at what a new mine near Vavenby may one day be like.
A conversation worth continuing in the Cariboo
ANDIE MOLLINS
Local Journalism Initiative
A full day of workshops at the Alex Fraser Research Forest invited participants to reflect on their relationship with resource management and to consider the potential of contemplative forestry.
“There’s lots of opportunity for innovation,” said Stephanie Huska, project manager with the Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub (CWITH) which hosted the event on Saturday, Sept. 20. Throughout the day, eight participants from the ‘spiritual’ to the ‘traditional’ side of forestry management took part in workshops facilitated by Jason Brown, an affiliate forestry
professional with the Forest Professionals of British Columbia.
The purpose of the workshops was to explore the idea of contemplative forestry, which meets two opposing views of how to manage forests in the middle. Brown has piloted a program at Simon Fraser University which uses contemplative practice to build resilience in the face of climate anxiety and ecological grief. Huska said there are competing priorities in the forestry industry which can be difficult to balance. “I often get stuck thinking these are the only tools available to us, but this might not be true,” Huska said. The day consisted of four different ses-
sions covering concepts such as ‘placefulness,’ which Huska described partially as a feeling of connection to the place you’re in. She connected this to forestry practices conducted by community forest licensees or wood lot owners, whose land they are managing over time and often with input from the community.
“It’s a bit different than traditional forestry where they aren’t wholly dependent on this one piece of land,” Huska said. “There’s an opportunity to manage it differently.”
At a time when wildfires seem to be burning at a greater intensity, Huska said it makes sense to expand the conversation.
Alive Training
“It’s a great time for us to be talking about how...forest management and how these catastrophic wildfires are connected,” Huska said.
“I think it’s a conversation worth continuing,” she added, wondering what tools might prove to be useful to the industry. CWITH’s next workshop will be on value-added wood products in October, headed by Jason Fisher, executive director of the Forest Enhancement Society of BC.
This article originally appeared in The Williams Lake Tribune
STEPHANIE HUSKA PHOTO
Jason Brown, centre, facilitated a full day of workshops hosted by the Cariboo Wood Innovated Training Hub on contemplative forestry.
Turning slash piles into clean energy
A new five-day course is now being offered
SUBMITTED PHOTO
ANDIE MOLLINS
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
New technology at the Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF) near Williams Lake is opening the door to training opportunities for people looking to produce locally generated clean energy.
A 40-kilowatt power plant based at the AFRF uses wood biomass to create both energy and power. The wood biomass comes from parts of trees and smaller wood not used in lumber. The Combined
Heat and Power (CHP) Academy, a new course offered through the University of British Columbia, uses the plant as a model to help communities successfully replicate the system.
CHP Academy is a five-day certificate program based out of the AFRF which targets members of rural communities, particularly Indigenous communities, where small-scale bio-energy systems may be a viable heat and power alternative.
“This is a first step,” said Mustafa Onder Ersin, the project manager for CHP.
Ersin said CHP provides participants with foundational knowledge which they can bring back to their community to explore the feasibility of building the infrastructure for a local biomass CHP system.
“The program’s purpose is to increase independent energy sources and reduce wildfire risks,” Ersin said.
During the course, participants learn
about bio-energy systems in general as well as CHP, which uses the heat resulting from energy production to provide heating. The use of biomass in CHP reduces waste and carbon dioxide emissions and also allows communities to move away from diesel which can be costly to ship in.
CHP plants can displace close to 100,000 litres of diesel per year and 300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, Ersin said.
Participants also learn about biomass
Students get to learn directly from a biomass CHP plant based at the Alex Fraser Research Forest in Williams Lake.
supply chains before then getting into the nitty-gritty of establishing their own CHP plant. They learn about the maintenance and operation of a CHP plant, and about how to make the most of local resources.
Ersin gave the example of slash piles created for wildfire prevention. Rather than wasting the biomass by burning it off into the atmosphere, Ersin said students learn to use these slash piles as fuel for a CHP plant.
All the while, the AFRF’s own CHP plant serves as a hands-on demonstration of what the participants can bring to their own communities.
“It is a very interactive program,” Ersin said, noting how the course means students can network with members of UBC, the government and other small communities.
Funding from Natural Resources Canada means tuition for Indigenous students is fully covered. Accommodations and meals for four nights are also covered, with breakfast, lunch and dinner being fully catered to allow participants to
focus on their learning. Travel subsidies are also available. Non-Indigenous participants can contact the academy at chp. academy@ubc.ca to inquire about costs.
The course began in March 2025 and has hosted more than 15 people so far, with participants attending from as far as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
It is offered over five days multiple times a year, with only one session still open for registration. To register for this March 2-6, 2026 course, visit the program’s webpage at afrf.forestry.ubc.ca/chp-academy-expression-of-interest/.
Ersin also encourages those interested to apply whether or not courses are marked full as last-minute cancellations are always a possibility. While the program is set to end following the March 2026 session, if continues to be popular they may pursue funding to expand it into the future.
Full speed ahead for Cariboo Gold
Permits and financing in place, construction of gold mine near Barkerville expected to begin later this year
TED CLARKE Citizen Staff
Amid the continuing threat of US tariffs on Canadian exports of steel, aluminum, copper, motor vehicles, auto parts and softwood lumber, gold has rarely crept into conversations uttered by Donald Trump.
If fact, on Aug. 11 the US president posted on his social media platform, Truth Social: “Gold will not be tariffed!”
If what Trump said holds true, that’s even more good news for Montreal-based Osisko Development Corp., whose flagship Cariboo Gold project south of Prince George near Barkerville is heading into the construction phase.
While Ontario’s auto sector ponders imminent closures of assembly plants and forestry producers in BC struggle with duties on US exports that add 35 per cent to the cost of crossing the border with wood products, there appears to be much more certainty in the gold trade market.
Mining that precious metal appears to be becoming an even more lucrative money-maker for investors with global prices now exceeding US $4,000 per ounce.
Canada is the world’s fourth largest gold producer, after China, Australia and Russia, and in 2023 it exported 133 tonnes of gold to the US, 37 per cent of the annual output. Our country’s most valuable mined commodity fetched $15.1 billion in 2023 and it seems there’s no shortage of buyers.
Located in the same vicinity of the Cariboo Gold Rush of 1861-67 that made Barkerville one of the largest cities north of San Francisco, Cariboo Gold received its environmental certificate in October 2023 after a four-year process.
Cariboo Gold is sitting on gold deposits expected to produce 1.89 million troy ounces of gold in its 10-year lifespan.
At US $4,000 per ounce, do the math and that adds up US $7.565 billion.
“We have seen significant progress over the last year,” said project spokesperson Jill Wilson. “We are currently advancing pre-construction activities, detailed engineering, ordering of long-lead items, completion of a 13,000-metre infill drilling program in the Lowhee Zone of the deposit and other critical path items which should put the project on strong footing ahead of a final investment decision.
“Once in construction, the project build is expected to be completed over a period of 24 months and we anticipate being in operation in 2028.”
Cariboo Gold received its environmental certificate in October 2023. Osisko was granted a BC Mines Act permit in November 2024 and a month later received its Environmental Management Act permits in December, needed for construction to begin.
“We view the receipt of our construction and operating permits in late 2024 as a major milestone and monumental achievement,” said Wilson.
“We commend BC’s new environmental assessment and permitting framework that demonstrates the province’s commitment to sustainable mine development while relying on a robust consultation process on predictable legislated timelines.”
It took four years from time for Cariboo Gold started the process in October 2019 to earn BC government ‘s stamp of approval and obtain its environmental
certificate and the project checked all the boxes after a thorough review.
“The first project wholly assessed under the new 2018 Environmental Assessment Act, Cariboo Gold is crucial for BC, creating good jobs and opening up longterm opportunities for local businesses, communities, and First Nations, all while adhering to top-tier environmental protection,” said Jagrup Brar, BC’s minister of mining and critical minerals.
“Our government is pleased that this project is one step closer to operation, which will provide good, well-paying jobs and open up long-term opportunities for local small businesses, communities, and First Nations. We will continue to work with the mining industry to ensure efficient permitting while also guaranteeing the province’s commitment to environmental protection and reconciliation.”
The Cariboo Gold project continues to attract international investment interest following the July announcement of a partnership with Appian Capital of London, England. Appian provided a US $450 million loan partially used to pay off a $25 million Bank of Canada loan that came due in October.
An additional US $203 million in equity financing was completed in August. Financing is now in place to fully fund the
CDN $881 million cost of construction estimated in a feasibility study earlier this year.
“At present, the list of fully-funded and permitted mining projects in Canada is very short, with the development of the Cariboo Gold Project a positive highlight of Canadian development during an uncertain economic period,” said Wilson.
The underground mine will have firstyear processing capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of gold ore per year. Milling will happen at the Quesnel River mine site near Hixon, 58 km southeast of Quesnel, while waste rock will be hauled to the Bonanza Ledge Mine just south of Wells, between Lowhee Creek and Stouts Gulch.
Construction of a new hydro transmission line from Quesnel will also be required.
Once construction begins, sometime later this year, Osisko figures the mine will create 613 direct jobs during the peak construction phase and 525 jobs will be available during operations.
“We expect significant job creation in the broader Cariboo region as a result of the economic activity,” said Wilson. “We also have strong local support from community and First Nations partners that recognize the long-term positive impacts this project will generate.”
OSISKO DEVELOPMENT PHOTO
A worker explores an underground vein at Cariboo Gold Mine near Barkerville. Construction of the mine is expected to begin later this year.
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BC approves Nisga’a led LNG project on the north coast
SHANNON WATERS AND MATT SIMMONS
Local Journalism Initiative Reporters
The BC government has just approved the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, which will produce up to 12 million tonnes of LNG annually by 2028.
Ksi Lisims LNG — pronounced s’lisims, meaning “from the Nass River” in the Nisga’a language — is a joint venture involving the Nisga’a Lisims Government, Canadian natural gas consortium Rockies LNG and Western LNG, a U.S.-based LNG project developer.
Located at the north end of Pearse Island, close to the Alaska border, the facility will be the second largest LNG producer in BC, nearly matching the 14-million-tonne production capacity of the first phase of the LNG Canada export terminal, which began shipping LNG to Asia this year.
In their reasons for decision, posted publicly on Sept. 15, BC ministers of environment and energy, Tamara Davidson and Adrian Dix, said they were approving the new LNG project despite not receiving consent from nearly half of the First Nations who participated in the environmental assessment process.
“We recognize that LNG facilities, along with natural gas pipelines, electrical transmission lines … and other development in the area has deeply affected Indigenous communities and ways of life, and that Ksi Lisims LNG will contribute to the cumulative effects on ecosystems and communities in the region,” they wrote.
However, they concluded the Ksi Lisims project would “constitute economic reconciliation and an exercise of self-determination for Nisga’a Nation” and provide “direct and indirect economic opportunities for First Nations in the region and for British Columbia.”
LNG exported from Ksi Lisims will primarily
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be sent overseas to countries like Japan and South Korea, where the gas will be burned to produce heat and electricity.
In approving the project, the ministers noted Ksi Lisims will be bound to 23 conditions, including a greenhouse gas emissions plan in line with BC’s net-zero policy. However, they noted the project is expected to have “significant adverse effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of natural gas-fired power barges used to electrify the project prior to connection to the BC Hydro electrical grid.” It is unclear how or when the project would be electrified.
Western LNG and the Nisga’a government also own Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT), an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline that will cross more than 1,000 waterways on its route to supply Ksi Lisims LNG. The pipeline was greenlit by the province’s environmental assessment office in June, paving the way for construction to continue this summer, more than a decade after the project was first proposed.
“Ksi Lisims LNG represents a transformational opportunity for all participating BC nations, and it will be developed in line with our nation’s high environmental standards,” Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a government said in a statement. “This is what reconciliation looks like: a modern Treaty Nation once on the sidelines of our economy, now leading a project that will help write the next chapter of a stronger, more resilient Canada.”
For the Nisga’a, Ksi Lisims is a development opportunity that will benefit Nisga’a communities, the province and the Canadian economy, but other First Nations oppose the project.
assessment — despite failing to address the First Nations’ concerns about the project’s potential impacts on their communities.
The project also faced a legal challenge filed by the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs in October 2024. The chiefs submitted an application for judicial review to the BC Supreme Court, alleging BC’s environmental assessment office failed in its duty to consult and is negligent in its obligations to protect fish species when it concluded the project does not pose a threat to Nass River salmon populations.
“This project threatens our food security and government has denied Gitanyow a role in decision making,” Simogyet (Hereditary Chief) Malii Glen Williams said in a statement at the time.
The challenge was rejected by the court in early September.
The Lax Kw’alaams band, for example, says the LNG facility would negatively affect its traditional territory and has expressed concerns about the project’s potential impact on BC’s ability to meet its climate targets. Lax Kw’alaams is southwest of the newly approved LNG facility and tankers filled with the liquefied gas will pass by the village regularly.
The environmental assessment office announced earlier this month that it had concluded dispute resolution processes initiated by Lax Kw’alaams and the Metlakatla First Nation as part of Ksi Lisims’ environmental
Naxginkw Tara Marsden, Wilp Sustainability director with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, said the approval puts BC on a dangerous path.
“It’s hard to believe that we’re moving ahead in BC with climate-destroying LNG projects in the midst of a climate crisis,” Naxginkw said in a statement provided to The Narwhal. “Greenlighting LNG projects is part of a trend in the wrong direction.”
This article originally appeared in The Narwhal
JAMES WHEELER/PEXELS PHOTO
A new LNG plant planned for the coast of BC is a joint venture between the Nisga’a Lisims Government, Rockies LNG and Western LNG
Prince Rupert Port Authority president and CEO to retire
PRINCE RUPERT PORT AUTHORITY PHOTO
Shaun Stevenson, president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, has announced his retirement.
CITIZEN STAFF
The Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) HAS announced the retirement of Shaun Stevenson, president and chief executive officer, effective Dec. 31, 2025.
Shaun Stevenson has led PRPA as president and chief executive officer since 2018 and has been a key contributor to the organization’s success since 1997.
“It has been an honour to lead the Prince Rupert Port Authority and work with such a talented team,” said Shaun Stevenson. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together with our partners, including over $3 billion in transformative development currently underway at the gateway. I’m confident the organization is well-positioned to continue its work in building a better Canada by growing trade.”
Shaun’s focus on growing the Prince Rupert gateway through developing, diversifying and enhancing numerous port business and infrastructure projects has been instrumental in the Port of Prince Rupert’s position as Canada’s third-largest port — anchoring more than $60
billion in trade, generating $1.4 billion in economic activity across northern British Columbia annually — while supporting 7,500 jobs in the gateway industry.
“Under Shaun’s leadership we’ve experienced unprecedented growth and diversification at the Port of Prince Rupert,” said Peter Lantin, chair of the Prince Rupert Port Authority board of directors. “The board of directors extends its deepest gratitude to Shaun for his dedication and contributions to the organization.”
The board of directors will initiate a comprehensive search for a new CEO and is committed to ensuring a smooth transition.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority manages the Port of Prince Rupert, Canada’s northernmost trade gateway on the West Coast. The Port of Prince Rupert anchors one of the fastest and most reliable supply chains between North America and Asia, providing vital infrastructure to support shippers and industries as they move their goods and resources to market.
