TORONTO: Shares in Pretium Resources Inc. enjoyed a nice bump after the company received final provincial and federal approval for its Brucejack mine in northwest British Columbia.
By the close the Vancouver-based company was trading at $6.53, up 4.5% on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down from a 7.5% advance shortly after the opening of trading.
A higher than usual 346,000 shares in the $865 million company changed hands on the day.
With all necessary federal approvals, a provincial environmental assessment certificate and Mines Act permit now in place, construction of the new Brucejack mine is expected to get underway in 2015, the BC mines ministry said in a statement.
Pretium pegs capital expenditure for the Brucejack underground operation located about 65 km northwest of Stewart at just less than $750 million with targeted commercial production in 2017. The company received a $81 million investment from China’s Zijin Mining in December for a stake just shy of 10%.
The gold and silver mine in the Valley of the Kings near the Alaskan border will create approximately 900 jobs during the two-year construction period and 500 jobs during an estimated 18-year operating life.
A feasibility study completed in June 2014 outlined proven and probable mineral reserves of 6.9 million ounces of gold (13.6 million tonnes grading 15.7 grams per tonne gold).
Average annual production of 504,000 ounces of gold over the first 8 years and 404,000 ounces of gold over the life of mine is expected with 2,700 tonnes milled every day.
Brucejack is the first mine greenlighted in BC since the failure of Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley tailings dam last summer.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines said Brucejack’s tailings will be stored underground in spent mine workings, and in the nearby lake, which contains no fish.
