Geddes more than doubles reserves at Windy Craggy

Having more than doubled reserves at the Windy Craggy project, owner Geddes Resources (TSE) now ranks it as the largest copper and cobalt deposit in Canada, and one of the largest in the world.

Located in northwestern British Columbia, Windy Craggy is estimated to host total reserves in all categories of 297.4 million tonnes grading an average of 1.38% copper at a cutoff grade of 0.5% copper.

This represents a 59% increase over the previous calculation of 186.5 million tonnes completed in early 1990. And Geddes is of the view that the property still has considerable potential for reserve expansion.

President Gerald Harper said the reserve boost came from a 1990 program of drilling, trenching and other sampling on the property, including areas that were previously thought to represent waste rock. The results of this work were then incorporated into a new geostatistical reserve calculation. “We are now looking at a project with a mine life of 30 years,” Harper said. “And it proves what an incredible resource we have up there.” Despite the greatly increased reserve base, Windy Craggy is almost certain to attract continued attention from groups seeking to stop development of a proposed mine by making the rugged and remote property part of a wilderness preserve where resource development is disallowed.

This campaign was spearheaded by Vancouver-based Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC), with the help of geologist John Ball, a Social Credit candidate in the recent provincial election who was forced to resign because of links to Ernest Zundel’s research effort to prove the Holocaust never happened.

WCWC also used Ball’s “research” for its campaign to stop development of Windy Craggy, an effort that was supported by companies offering rafting expeditions on the Tatshenshini River. Even though the river is miles from the proposed mine site, the companies argued that a road and bridge would spoil the wilderness experience of the 100-200 tourists (primarily from the U.S. and Europe) that go on the rafting expeditions each year. Geddes is, of course, of the view that the deposit is far too valuable to be locked up in a wilderness preserve accessible only to a few hardy hikers. With nine billion pounds of contained copper and 400 million pounds of cobalt, the company estimates that Windy Craggy currently has a gross metal value of $15 billion.

The issue is likely to be a contentious one for British Columbia’s socialist (New Democratic Party) government headed by Premier Mike Harcourt. Copper is an important export commodity, but it’s no secret most of the province’s copper mines will be depleted by the turn of the century. The government is also likely to face conflicting pressures from its key support groups, organized labor and environmental groups.

And if the property was “expropriated,” Geddes would have to be compensated fairly for its loss. That would render the NDP unable to deliver on its election promises to implement new social programs while balancing the budget. So far, the new administration has not commented publicly on Windy Craggy, although the previous government was on record as being in favor of a multiple-use concept.

In response to concerns raised during the public review process, Geddes revised its original open pit mining plan to a combination of open pit and underground mining in order to reduce the potential for acid rock drainage. And it is also looking to a pipeline system to transport copper concentrate and fuel oil.

The company said the limits of the North, South and Ridge zones have still not been found, so the ultimate reserve may extend the mine life even more. Reserves at Windy Craggy are contained in a number of zones, with the North zone containing the largest reserve; 138.3 million tonnes in all categories grading 1.44% copper, 0.22 grams gold, 4.0 grams silver, 0.066% cobalt and 0.25% zinc.

“We won’t be looking at expanding the plant, just the mine life,” Harper said. “We still think 30,000 tonnes per day is a good size.” Harper also said Geddes considers joining forces with a major for ongoing development of Windy Craggy.

Geddes is currently owned about 40% by Northgate Exploration (TSE) and about 20% by Cominco (TSE).