The Osoyoos Indian Band and West High Yield Resources (TSXV: WHY) have signed a co-operation agreement regarding the company’s Record Ridge magnesium project near Rossland, B.C. The company says the agreement was negotiated based on its commitment to advancing sustainability, sound environmental practices, good governance, and respecting Indigenous rights.
The Osoyoos undertook its own independent review of the application made by the company for a B.C. mining permit.
"This agreement recognizes Osoyoos Indian Band's sovereignty over our lands and represents our continued efforts to ensure that our lands are protected and managed in accordance with our wishes, values, and principles. This agreement assures us of our oversight of the project, thereby protecting our peoples' environmental and economic interests," said Chief Clarence Louie. "Our independent review of the company's mining application reinforces our commitment to working with the company going forward."
WHY holds a 100%-interest in the mineral rights of the Record Ridge project. The measured and indicated resource is 43 million tonnes grading 24.61% magnesium and containing 10.6 million tonnes of the metal. The inferred portion is 1 million tonnes grading 24.37 % magnesium and containing 260,000 tonnes of metal. A cut-off of 21.9% magnesium was used in these calculations.
The Record Ridge prefeasibility study put the after-tax net present value with a 5% discount at US$872 million and an internal rate of return of 72%. The open pit mine has a 20-year life and will use a proprietary hydrometallurgical process to produce magnesia (MgO) of at least 99% purity.
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November 13, 2023
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5 Comments
Nel
The permit application has not been made public yet and has yet to be resubmitted in full by W.H.Y. due to having made too many changes to it so it is curious as to which application exactly did the Osoyous band and/or the independent party reviewed. And there is actually no signs in sight to say that the full permit approval is to follow by the end of the year, so what is the basis of this statement?
Marilyn Scales
The article was accurately based on the news release of Sept. 11, 2023, issued by West High Yield.
Nel
What’s curious about this news is:
1) which version of the company’s “WHY” permit application did the independent reviewer reveived?
2) who proceeded with doing the indepedent review of that permit application?
3) how was the Osoyoos band able to review such permit application since it has not been made public yet?
4) who shared such permit application (and which version) with the Osoyoos band? And since it is not publicly available yet (the old version is obsolete and the new version has yet to be submitted by “WHY” to the Ministry of Mines), is this review procedure appropriate?
5) what exactly consists the environmental practices that the company “WHY” will follow?
6) what exactly are the environmental practices that fall under the Osoyoos band as “protecting the peoples environmental interest” or rather what are the Osoyoos band’s environmental interests?
7) how does the Osoyoos band relate to the endangered Grasslands on Record Ridge and how is this mine proposal to be following their wishes, values and principles in terms of protecting the land?
Sam
Where did the press release say “The open pit mine has a 20-year life”? Where did you find that information?
Sam
To be clear, I did not intend any criticism of Marilyn’s reporting, but I live in Rossland and have seen Frank Marasco in action.
Many in our community are deeply concerned about the damage being done to a rare local high-elevation grassland — the site of the proposed open-pit mine. We are also concerned about safety — the only available route for the ore trucks is a narrow, twisting, dirt road which was formerly the only highway access to this area: the Old Cascade Highway. It traverses a steep hillside, and it is also the only means of ingress and egress for residents of Big Sheep Creek; it is still a public “highway.” Making it safe for ore truck traffic, along with the normal public traffic, would pose significant challenges, IMO.
Meanwhile, West High Yield is being required to resubmit its “project notification.” Our community is watching.