Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/468124
Photograph : BC Hydro S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 35 I f you could chart 10 years' worth of emotions stirred up by the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) project, you'd have highs and lows to rival the Pacific Cordillera. There were anxious moments when the project looked like it would stall. And there was jubilation on August 13, 2014, when electricity officially began flowing along a 344-kilometre, 287-kilovolt transmission line, bringing a BC Hydro grid connection to northwest B.C. communities, mine developers and independent power producers. Although the northwest holds as much as 30 per cent of B.C.'s mineral resources, it was held back for many decades by the absence of connection to BC Hydro's grid. Diesel genera- tors could keep the lights on in communities along Highway 37, and they made a high-grade gold-silver deposit such as Eskay Creek a viable mine. But they weren't adequate to enable devel- opment of the sprawling, low-grade deposits that are typical of the northwest. The idea of a BC Hydro transmission connection was first broached with government in 2004 by Donald McInnes, then-president of Western Keltic Mines and proponent for a copper-zinc mine at Kutcho Creek. McInnes explained that B.C. was an under-performer against comparable jurisdictions for attracting mineral exploration investment. A transmission line carrying affordable grid power to the northwest would be the catalyst for change, he argued. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, who was minister of state for mining during the early stages of the campaign (and eventually presided over the completion of NTL by BC Hydro in August 2014), decided to take a look for himself. "I flew into Red Chris, I flew into Galore Creek. I stayed about five days up along Highway 37 in the local lodges just to learn what was going on up there. I became convinced that if we did build a power line, investment would come," Bennett recalls. Back in Victoria, however, with the 2010 Winter Olympics on the horizon, Bennett found "it was difficult, frankly, to turn the attention to a part of the province that was almost forgotten." But a bigger coalition was beginning to build. There were key members, including the Association for Mineral Exploration BC, the Mining Association of BC (M A BC), Northern Development Initiative Trust, and some well-connected First Nation leaders including Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick. Powering progress DESPITE THE CHALLENGES IN BRINGING IT TO FRUITION, THE NORTHWEST TRANSMISSION LINE IS A LIFELINE FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHWEST B.C. By Scott SimpSon Tower touchdown: 1,000 of these lattice towers were installed along the right-of-way for the Northwest Transmission Line.