TerraX exploration inches closer to Yellowknife
CEO says summer work will include prospecting and mapping
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, June 23, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
TerraX's exploration could be a little more visible than usual this summer, although the company's CEO says residents won't see prospectors out in their backyards.
The Southbelt, where TerraX has mineral rights, is shown on the south side of Grace Lake by the empty road, seen at right, and most of the east and west sides of Kam Lake seen here. An area of homes on the north side of Grace Lake is not included in the company's mineral rights. CEO Joe Campbell said summer exploration won't be near people's homes. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo |
"We know that our property boundaries come up ... to the city," said Joe Campbell. "There's obviously a potential that on a given day somebody might see a prospector out banging on rocks or mapping the rocks ... But most of the work that we'll be doing will be somewhere in the woods."
Residents might also notice low-flying helicopters conducting geophysics work for the company's Yellowknife City Gold Project. They will be dragging an instrument behind them that Campbell said measures "natural signals" from the earth to help determine areas with potential for gold.
"It'll look sort of like a tube hanging out of a helicopter," Campbell said. "Those programs will last seven to 10 days. They're very short-term."
Workers will also be doing prospecting and mapping off the Ingraham Trail, Campbell added, where they'll walk through the area taking samples of rocks that may have mineralization in them.
Mayor Mark Heyck said he doesn't have any concerns about the exploration
project's proximity to the city.
"They've really been a model company in terms of engaging with the community and with surrounding First Nations," he said. "And in a very difficult global environment for raising capital, they've been quite successful in that regard too."
He added it's been great to see the company's exploration project turn up promising results.
"If there is ever a mine built, it'll be in very close proximity to the city and presumably the employees who work there will live in the community," he said. "That's a plus."
TerraX is moving forward this summer after its winter drill program produced positive results. Between the end of January and the end of March, the company drilled about 14,000 metres, "which is a lot to drill," said Campbell.
"The upshot of all that drilling was we found three new areas that look promising to us in terms of mineralization and we'll be going back to do more work in those areas," he said.
In February, the company drilled at its Mispickel, Sam Otto, Banting Lake, Southbelt and Townsite sites around Yellowknife. The promising areas are near Walsh Lake, not far from where the company has been working for the past two years.
Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, said TerraX has seen success finding gold mineralization in the area.
"It seems like there's fertile ground," he said, adding one of the biggest challenges is locating another major deposit such as Con Mine.
Campbell estimates it could be another eight to 10 years before any actual mining work could start.
The company is already starting to have a financial influence in the community though, he said. TerraX employed about 50 people during its drilling phase and while numbers are lower now, he said the company expects to be up to 25 employees again as the summer continues.
"Our expenditure within the Yellowknife area has gone from about $1 million in 2013 to about $7 million last year and we expect to either match or exceed that amount for 2017," Campbell said. "It's starting to have an economic impact."
TerraX has staked a 383-square-kilometre claim around the city of Yellowknife for mineral exploration and has hopes of raising $40 million for its work over the next three years.
