Ottawa\u2019s recent support for road initiatives<\/a> in the Far North which could eventually help advance major mines and defence corridors in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\nCopper push<\/p>\n
Block Cave could extend the mine\u2019s life by about 14 years, create more than 1,800 construction jobs and lift Canada\u2019s copper output by about 15%, Newmont said. B.C. approved amendments last month allowing the mine to shift from open-pit to underground block cave mining.<\/p>\n
The power need remains central. Ottawa conditionally approved $44.2 million in March for Northwest Transmission Line system upgrades that could supply Red Chris and provide up to 25 MW for construction at Seabridge Gold\u2019s (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) KSM copper-gold project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go from diesel generation, which could be 25\u00a2 per kilowatt hour-plus, to hydro which is 6\u00a2 per kilowatt hour, that\u2019s a big deal,\u201d Joe Mazumdar, editor and analyst at Exploration Insights, told The Northern Miner.<\/p>\n
BC Hydro plans to twin the 500-kV system between Prince George and Terrace, then add new high-voltage capacity north toward Bob Quinn. The utility says the buildout could more than double power supply in a region where demand is rising from mining, critical minerals, liquefied natural gas, ports and technology.<\/p>\n
Grid queue<\/p>\n
BC Hydro told The Miner it allocates capacity by queue order, based on when customers file transmission service requests. Some capacity will become available when the first, 165-km stage of the North Coast Transmission Line from Williston substation near Prince George to Glenannan substation near Fraser Lake comes online, the utility said.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\nInfrastructure piece
\nRole
\nExpected completion\/status
\nMain bottleneck
\nMine impact
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nExisting Northwest Transmission Line
\n344-km, 287-kV line from Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake
\nIn service since 2014
\nLimited remaining capacity north of Terrace
\nSupports current access, but cannot carry all planned mine and industrial loads
\n
\n
\nPrince George-to-Terrace capacitors
\nAdds capacity on the existing 500-kV system
\nSaranovich and Palling due fall 2026; Walcott due fall 2027; full project due 2028
\nCapacity already fully subscribed
\nHelps near-term customers, but does not solve the wider Golden Triangle power crunch
\n
\n
\nNorthwest Transmission Line upgrades
\nAdds mine-serving capacity to the existing NTL system
\nNo firm public completion date
\nNeeds construction, interconnection work and funding follow-through
\nCould supply up to 145 MW for Red Chris and up to 25 MW for KSM construction
\n
\n
\nTreaty Creek Terminal
\nSwitching station to connect KSM to the NTL
\nTarget in service: fall 2026
\nMust be paired with KSM\u2019s 30-km, 287-kV line to the plant site
\nGives KSM access to BC Hydro power for construction and later mine development
\n
\n
\nNorth Coast Transmission Line, stages 1 and 2
\nTwins the 500-kV system from Prince George toward Terrace
\nStage 1 due fall 2030; stage 2 due mid-2032
\nLong build timeline, permitting, First Nations partnership and customer queue
\nAdds capacity for mines, LNG, ports and other industrial users south of Terrace
\n
\n
\nNorth Coast line north of Terrace
\nProposed 500-kV line toward Bob Quinn
\nNo firm date; later stage
\nEarly-stage planning, routing and approvals
\nKey to larger mine loads deeper in the Golden Triangle
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A mine that secures grid power can model lower operating costs, cleaner permitting and stronger financing. A project pushed behind other industrial loads may need diesel, gas-fired power or a staged build while it waits for the grid.<\/p>\n
Skeena Gold & Silver (TSX, NYSE: SKE) is closest among the new mine builds to securing grid power. The company signed an interconnection and transmission agreement with Coast Mountain Hydro last year, completed first tie-ins to the 287-kV line at Volcano Creek and expects power lines to Eskay Creek to be completed in this year\u2019s second half.<\/p>\n
Skeena\u2019s 2023 feasibility study assumed power at about 6\u00a2 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for a project requiring about 38 MW to 39 MW of installed capacity, Mazumdar said.<\/p>\n
Mine loads<\/p>\n
KSM carries a much larger load. Seabridge\u2019s 2022 prefeasibility study also assumed grid power at about 6\u00a2 per kWh, Mazumdar said, but the project would need about 245 MW of installed power. BC Hydro is building the Treaty Creek Terminal switching station to connect KSM to the existing Northwest Transmission Line north of Terrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of these guys are assuming that that grid power is going to be there for them,\u201d Mazumdar said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be running on diesel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bottleneck reaches beyond the biggest projects. Teck Resources\u2019 (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) Schaft Creek, an advanced copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project still being readied for prefeasibility work, would need a private 95-km, 287-kV line to the Bob Quinn substation. A Wood Mackenzie assessment shows Kutcho Copper\u2019s (TSXV: KC; US-OTC: KCCFF) remote copper-zinc project east of Dease Lake still depends on workable power options.<\/p>\n
Line buildout<\/p>\n
North of Terrace, mines rely on the 287-kV Northwest Transmission Line and a smaller 138-kV line. BC Hydro\u2019s North Coast plan would twin the 500-kV system from Prince George toward Terrace by fall 2030 and mid-2032, then add a later 500-kV line north toward Bob Quinn.<\/p>\n
The Prince George-to-Terrace capacitor project, now under construction and expected in service by 2028, is already fully subscribed. That leaves later mine loads dependent on the larger North Coast buildout and the order in which customers secured service.<\/p>\n
The MABC wants governments to invest ahead of demand rather than wait for each mine to justify a new line on its own. It says B.C. should prioritize long-life, high-value projects that are ready to build, align with electrification and use existing or planned infrastructure well.<\/p>\n
That puts governments in a familiar northern mining bind. Mines historically built roads, power lines and ports into remote districts, Mazumdar said. But the scale of today\u2019s infrastructure needs makes it hard for one company to fund the grid and still deliver the returns investors expect.<\/p>\n
The MABC wants governments to invest ahead of demand rather than wait for each mine to justify a new line on its own. It says B.C. should prioritize long-life, high-value projects that are ready to build, align with electrification and use existing or planned infrastructure well.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan one company\u2019s project build all that? I doubt it,\u201d Mazumdar said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottawa\u2019s $500-million (US$352 million) contribution to Newmont\u2019s (NYSE, ASX: NEM; TSX: NGT) proposed Red Chris Block Cave has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-778789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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