Image Credit: Contributed by Teck Highland Valley Copper
December 25, 2022 - 7:00 PM
B.C.'s biggest open pit copper mine is getting closer to its proposed expansion.
Highland Valley Copper near Logan Lake is expected to close by 2028, with production to dwindle until then, but its owner, Teck, is trying to extend its lifespan to 2040 with a 758-hectare expansion.
It currently produces enough ore to fill about 70 commercial truckloads each day, which is then sold overseas to smelters.
With 6,900 hectares already disturbed by the mine, the planned construction would expand two open pits and at least one tailing pond.
Teck is still at least a year from getting provincial approval, but it will now start consulting with Indigenous nations and assess its environmental impacts after four years of preliminary work, according to ministry of environment documents.
On Dec. 16, the province gave Highland Valley an order that outlines how it will conduct the environmental assessment, which will take several months before it's returned to the Environmental Assessment Office.
Teck will consult with several First Nations in the area, while the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal Council will also conduct its own independent, Indigenous-led assessment of the project.
More than 1,300 full-time employees work at the mine. That would increase during construction, but it will only include a "marginal" increase in employment once the pits are expanded, according to Teck's proposal to the province.
Highland Valley Copper has seven pits, but just three of those are currently being mined. More than 1,800 hectares of the mine area has already been closed and re-vegetated for more than a year, according to Teck's proposal.
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