Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/759903
36 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 British Columbia's Golden Triangle district has become one of the most important metal regions in Western Canada and is being further enhanced with recently improved infrastructure. The region is host to several high-grade, past-producing mines such as the Premier, Eskay Creek and Snip deposits. Over the past decade a number of large new deposits have been outlined, including, Pretium Resources' Valley of the Kings deposit and Seabridge Gold's KSM deposits. This development activity has had sig- nificant impact on the infrastructure in the region. For example, the Stewart-Cassiar Highway north from Smithers has been paved, the Town of Stewart has ocean port facilities for export of concentrate, and BC Hydro's 287 kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line from Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake and north to the Red Chris Mine has been completed. So it is no surprise that the 2016 season has seen a massive ramp up in explora- tion dollars being spent in and around the Golden Triangle. This increase in spending reflects that confidence is returning to the market and more importantly, that junior exploration companies are starting the search for new grassroots discoveries in a highly prolific area. Pretium Resources [PVG-TSX, NYSE] has been busy developing its high-grade Valley of the Kings deposit, 65 km north of Stewart. The company released the last results of its underground infill drill- ing program in May. The program totaled 63,444 metres in 364 drill holes and returned 49 intersections averaging over 1,000 g/t gold, including the bonanza- grade intercept in hole VU-722 which encountered 37,117 g/t gold uncut over 0.5 metres. In July, Pretium updated its mineral resource estimate; measured and indicated resources now total 9.1 million ounces gold (16.4 million tonnes grading 17.2 g/t gold). The deposit remains open to the east and west along strike, and at depth. Construction and underground devel- opment continues on schedule and the transmission line construction is ongoing with the first series of towers erected. The connection of the transmission line to the BC Hydro power grid is expected in Q4. With the US $540 million construction financing, available cash on hand and the Golden Triangle attracting exploration dollars by thomas Schuster