Tulsequah gets approval, cleared to proceed

Vancouver – Redcorp Ventures (RDV-T) has received final environmental approvals for its Tulsequah project located about 95 km south of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia.

Federal departments Fisheries & Oceans Canada and Transport Canada decided that, under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Tulsequah project "is unlikely to result in any significant adverse environmental effects." Resultantly, the project has been cleared to proceed.

The decision marks the conclusion of several years of legal challenges and environmental review that has frustrated advancement of polymetallic deposit. Redcorp, through wholly-owned subsidiary Redfern Resources, also holds a special use permit allowing a proposed access road.

A number of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups and some members of the Taku Tlingit First Nation have contested the planned 160 km access road, specifically its routing, and potential impact to the Tulsequah and Taku Rivers.

In mid-May, the company pulled the plug on a feasibility study to reopen the mine, conducted by engineering firms Hatch and AMEC Americas, due to increased capital and operating expense estimates coupled with a significant reduction in the resource estimate.

Earlier this year, AMEC pegged Tulsequah’s measured and indicated resource at 5.4 million tonnes grading, 6.7% zinc, 1.4% copper, 1.3% lead, 2.7 grams gold and 101 grams silver per tonne, in compliance with National Instrument 43-101. Inferred resources stand at 1.5 million tonnes averaging 1.1% copper, 1.1% lead, 5.4% zinc, 2.2 grams gold and 85 grams silver.

A previous resource calculation, conducted in 1997, estimated the Tulsequah resource at 7.6 million tonnes grading 6.6% zinc, 1.3% copper, 1.2% lead, 2.5 grams gold and 105 grams silver.

With all socio-environmental issues now apparently addressed, the company needs to solve the economic constraints. Expansion of the resource base and streamlining of capex and operating costs are essential elements for the project to return to production. To finance proposed operations, Redcorp is considering bringing in a potential partner.

The Tulsequah Chief mine operated for several years until 1957. Cominco, now part of Teck Cominco (TEK-T), mined over 930,000 tonnes of ore from the Tulsequah Chief and Big Bull deposits averaging 7% zinc, 1.6% copper, 1.5% lead, 3.8 grams gold and 127 grams silver.

Redcorp, through Redfern, first acquired interest in the project in 1981, having subsequently consolidated its property ownership.

Tulsequah, and the near-by Big Bull, are volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits hosting a suite of ore minerals including sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, tennantite-tetrahedrite and native gold. The orebody occurs at the hinge zone and limbs of a steeply plunging synclinal fold and consists of a number of stacked sulphide lenses developed within the basal stratigraphy of the felsic volcanics.

Investors were delighted by the news, driving up Redcorp’s share price 100%, to 24, on volume of almost 2.8 million shares. The company posts a market capitalization of $17 million at its recent trading levels.