VICTORIA — Plans for a gold mine near Wells, in B.C.'s Cariboo region, took a significant step forward with the granting of an environmental assessment certificate.
Canadian Press
VICTORIA — Plans for a gold mine near Wells, in B.C.'s Cariboo region, took a significant step forward with the granting of an environmental assessment certificate.
Environment Minister George Heyman and Mines Minister Josie Osborne said in a statement Tuesday that it has given approval for Osisko Development Corp. to build and operate the underground Cariboo Gold mine, east of Quesnel, provided the project receives all its required permits.
The certificate comes with 22 conditions, including establishing a new drinking water supply for Wells, minimizing impacts to the Barkerville woodland caribou herd, noise requirements and hiring 75 per cent of workers from the region, if possible.
When completed, the mine is expected to produce about 25 million tonnes of ore over 16 years and employ 500 workers during its operation and up to 300 during construction.
The mine is the first to be assessed from start to finish under the province's 2018 Environmental Assessment Act which created a new process that includes more participation from First Nations
In a document laying out their reasons for making the decision, the ministers say Lhtako Dene Nation and Williams Lake First Nation provided notices of consent, and Xatśull First Nation said they do not oppose the project but consider consent an "ongoing process."
The ministers say the benefits of the project outweigh the costs, and it is in the public interest.
Granting of the certificate comes after a nearly three-year review led by the provincial Environmental Assessment Office.
The ministers say the conditions on the certificate give them the "confidence to conclude that Cariboo Gold will be carried out such that no significant adverse effects are likely to occur."
The government says construction costs are expected to contribute an estimated at $588 million to the economy over four years, and the operations another $466 million.
A 200-person work camp will be built at the project site, which is about the current size of the community of Wells.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2023.
Provincial decision looms for Cariboo Gold Mine at edge of Wells, B.C.
Residents divided over plans for large mine building at edge of their 220-resident community
The tiny community of Wells, B.C., will soon learn if it will be home to a new gold mine — one that's divided the historic gold-rush district of just 220 residents.
After it passed its environmental review last month, the proposed $588-million Cariboo Gold Mine is awaiting a final decision from provincial cabinet ministers, who have until Wednesday to say yes or no.
Particularly divisive has been Osisko Development's plan to build a 36-metre-high, 200-metre-long mining building at the southern entrance of the community, within municipal limits.
"There have been a few friends lost," said Gabe Fourchalk, Wells' former mayor and an equipment contractor for the mining firm. "With change, there comes a little bit of fear … some people are worried.
"In a small town, everybody is so, so close-knit."
Located roughly 100 kilometres southeast of Prince George, the community is best known for Barkerville Historic Town and Park, a gold mining museum and National Historic Site.
It's a major local employer at which many residents have worked as re-enactment actors, guides, or vendors.
Fourchalk and his father served as its Gold Rush-era blacksmiths for years. He resigned as mayor in 2021, citing mine-related divisions.
"You're always gonna have some ups and some downs, but overall this is a fantastic project," he told CBC News. "It's kind of fundamental that we have a little bit of the arts, culture, tourism and industry.
"It all brings in the money that people need in a small town to survive."
Another longtime Barkerville museum employee, Dirk Van Stralen, owns the local Sunset Theatre and is an elected councillor in Wells.
He said he only opposes the mine's location at the community's edge.
"The majority of the town are in favour of the mine," he told CBC News. "Just not the design of this particular proposal … the equivalent of four Costcos stacked inside the town site itself.
"It would turn our town into, effectively, an industrial site. Please revisit this design — move it 400 metres south."
'Past and future that's all laced with gold'
Osisko Development said it is has consulted extensively with the community, and will bring local investments and more than 450 jobs over the mine's 16-year lifespan, according to revised plans filed last year.
The underground mine would run 24 hours a day, all year, processing roughly 4,000 tonnes of ore a day, the company's filings state — from which it hopes to extract at least two million ounces of gold.
"We have strived, since its early conception, to do mining better and change the legacy left in Wells by past mining activities," the company wrote in a B.C. Environmental Assessment Office document. "Since 2016, we have engaged with our Indigenous partners and the local communities.
"Those exchanges help shape our project."
In a statement sent to CBC News on Saturday, the company said it already shortened the building's height by one-third, based on public concerns, and ended plans for a mine portal and water treatment plant beside Wells.
But company spokesperson Philip Rabenok said alternative locations have "no basis from a technical or environmental sustainability perspective." The current site is already disturbed by mining, he said, whereas the alternatives are on endangered species habitat and would require trucks to haul ore through Wells.
Resident CJ Johnston, who used to serve as the district's tourism and development officer, now works as a Barkerville Gold Mines contractor as driver, first aid attendant and cashier.
She said a "loud" minority oppose the mine under what she called a pretext of wanting to relocate its building.
"There's no chance of changing the location of the service building," she said, adding the building is so large because it is meant to address local concerns about noise, light and dust from a mine so close to residences.
"The horse has already left — why are you bothering to close the barn door?
"Do I want to have a great big, honking building in front of Wells? Probably not. But I want to be a part of … what that service building looks like."
She said it's ironic mine opponents only live in Wells because of its gold-related tourism industry.
"Not one drop of tourism in Wells would be there without gold," she said. "An operating mine … could connect between our past and future that's all laced with gold."
Van Stralen said many in the community are wary of a mining industry that, in the past, has left little but economic loss — and toxic pollution — after past mines closed.
"We understand the privilege of living where we do is a result of gold mining," he said. "But mining itself has not lasted as long as the tourism economy that has sprung up in its absence."
'Not in my front yard'
He takes issue with the accusation that residents opposed to the proposal are just saying "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) because they're afraid of change.
"It's actually 'NIMFYism,'" he said. "Which is 'not in my front yard.' Because that's actually what's being proposed."
B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office said in a statement Cariboo Gold Mine is the first project to go through the province's newly revamped review process for such operations.
It issued requirements for Osisko to mitigate its impacts, after hearing from First Nations, a local Community Advisory Council, as well as concerns from Northern Health Authority over air quality impacts.
"I'm glad it's in the hands of the government now to make their decision," Fourchalk said. "It's out of everybody else's hands.
"I'm sure they're going to make the right choice."
Corrections
- An earlier version of this article cited Osisko Development’s 2019 application, which stated the mine would cost $330 million, operate for 11 years and provide more than 300 jobs. In October 2022, the company revised those plans, estimating it would cost $588 million, operate for 16 years and provide 459 jobs during operation.Oct 09, 2023 1:14 PM PT
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