Yellowhead Mining Inc. announced on April 3 that it had submitted the Environmental Assessment Certificate application for its Harper Creek copper-gold-silver project to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) for screening.
The EAO has 30 days to complete the screening of the application to ensure it contains the information outlined in the Application Information Requirements.
Once the application is accepted, the EAO has 180 days to complete its review. The application then goes to the provincial and federal ministers for a decision.
Greg Hawkins, board chair and interim chief executive officer said: “Yellowhead’s achievement of this major milestone moves the project forward. With ongoing support from local communities and the involvement of First Nations, the Harper Creek project brings significant long-term economic benefits and jobs to communities in the North Thompson Valley.”
Yellowhead’s proposed Harper Creek copper-gold-silver mine would be located about 10 km southwest of Vavenby.
According to the company, there would be 600 jobs created during the construction phase. Most of these would live in a camp at the mine-site, but there still would be money added to the local economy.
Once the mine was operational, there would be about 430 jobs in the mine, in the mill and in administration.
Added to this would be 860 to 1,200 indirect jobs in nearby towns.
The mine’s projected lifetime is 28 years.