Province approves underground expansion at Northwest B.C.’s Red Chris mine

Province approves underground expansion at Northwest B.C.’s Red Chris mine

Published 10:23 am Friday, June 19, 2026

B.C. has approved a major expansion for Northwest B.C.’s Red Chris Mine, allowing the open-pit mine to be extended underground and prolonging operations to at least 2038.

The approval is the second assessment undertaken through an agreement with the Thaltan Nation.

Red Chris is a copper and gold mine 18 kilometres southwest of Iskut owned by the Newmont Corporation, and is on both federal and provincial priority project lists.

The province expects the expansion to add 1,800 jobs during peak construction, while protecting 1,500 current jobs. It is the seventh major mining project approved in the past 18 months.

Red Chris is also where a cave-in last summer trapped three contractors for two-and-a-half days before rescue crews could reach them. An underground expansion obviously comes with new risks for “fall of ground” incidents like that one.

“They followed their training, they were safe, and they were extricated successfully,” Premier David Eby said at a Friday (June 19) press conference announcing the approval. “It is still a reminder, to all of us, that we can’t be complacent about mine safety. We have to ensure those safeguards are in place.”

He said both the province and Newmont are conducting reviews of the incident.

READ MORE: ‘A great, positive outcome’: trio rescued 60 hours after B.C. Red Chris mine collapse