Resource World Magazine

D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 www.resourceworld.com 41 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT & LOGISTICS SERVICES From exploration, to construction and through production. BBE makes the hard to reach, reachable. solutions@bbex.com num; and 1.8 million oz of silver. Over the 22-year LOM, annual production is fore- cast to be 171 million lb of copper; 266,000 oz of gold; 15.5 million lb of molybdenum; and 1.4 million oz of silver. Cash costs are estimated to be US -$0.81/lb net of by- products. There is a LOM strip ratio of 0.59:1 (waste:ore). While there is a rough access road to Casino, about 130 km needs upgrad- ing. In an interview, Dr. Paul-West-Sells, President and CEO, told Resource World, "The road construction package that was recently announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the result of a cou- ple years of hard work by the Yukon Government with support from us. We worked closely with them over that two- year period to put together the application to the Federal Government that was just approved. This is a great announcement for the future of the Yukon." He added, "The infrastructure package that was announced by Prime Minister Trudeau is really three corridors that will benefit several mining projects. One is the corridor that starts at Carmacks and goes up to Casino. The other road package goes south from Dawson towards Goldcorp's Coffee Mine. The third road package is an upgrade of the road in the Nahanni Range that helps the access for the Selwyn deposit." West-Sells explained that the federal government has approved the funding contingent on agreements being reached between the three levels of government; that is, the federal, territorial and First Nation governments. "The next step to advance these various road packages is to work with the key impacted First Nations to come up with agreements on the roads," he said. "Once those agreements with the First Nations are complete and permits are in place, then you can expect to see some dirt being moved." The first section of road planned for construction will be a bypass that will allow mining-related traffic to avoid the town of Carmacks, which was a key con- cern identified by the local community. The road upgrades will not involve dig- ging tunnels or building major bridges. West-Sells pointed out that you actu- ally want to mobilize all your equipment and set up your construction fronts in the winter when the ground is frozen and then when things thaw, you begin construction until the next freeze-up. "Building roads in the north is a well-established art that is fairly straightforward," he remarked. "There are a surprising number of activi- ties that actually occur in the winter." The first section of road is 100% paid for by the federal and territorial governments and the second section is 70% funded by Western Copper and Gold and 30% by the governments. "That first section of road to be constructed, the Freegold Road, is actually an upgrade to the existing road and should be underway before or around the same time as we're starting the second section of the road," said West-Sells. "So really, it's a timeline that's dependent upon our permitting timeline and how fast we can get through that." The company has been advancing certain key permitting activities in order to prepare its environmental and socio-economic state- ment (ESE statement) for submission as the next step in the environmental assessment process. A major part of the initiative has been the best available tailing technology (BATT) review process relating to the design of the tailings and waste management facility. In this regard, Western Copper is following the British Columbia government guidelines that are being contemplated by the Yukon government. Following the Mount Polley tailings dam failure, regulators expect a higher level of review on tailings facilities. The BATT review process weighs different options for tailings and waste management that involve First Nations, communities and regulators – all coming together to come up with the best plan. Western Copper must go through the Environmental Assessment process which in the Yukon is called the YESAB – Yukon Environmental and Socio and Economic Assessment Board. The next step is to get a Quartz Mining License before construc- tion can begin. After that, there's a water license which can take another year. Due to the timing of BATT review pro- cess and Yukon government timelines on the permitting of the road upgrades as part of the Gateway funding, the company has advised the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board that it will delay submission of its ESE statement until the end of 2018. Discussing the impact of the rising price of copper on the Casino Project, West-Sells commented, "One thing that separates this project from others is that it was economic at US $2/lb copper with an after-tax 15% IRR. Now, at today's copper prices, we are well over $2 billion in terms of net pres- ent value. The economics of this project are tremendous at the current commodity price environment, and more importantly, The Casino polymetallic porphyry project in western Yukon Territory. Photo by Archbould Photography.

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