Taranis Resources secures permit after BC legal battle

Taranis Resources (TSX-V: TRO) can go ahead with planned exploration at its Thor polymetallic project near Trout Lake, B.C., almost two years after its permit application and five months after filing a lawsuit against the province.

The five-year permit gives Taranis permission to explore using 24 drill sites, which will start on July 1.

The Thor project, an amalgamation of five historic mines, sits in the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Indigenous nation, northeast of the village of Nakusp, in the West Kootenay region.

“We’re incredibly pleased,” said John Gardiner, president and CEO of Taranis, in an interview with The Valley Voice. “It took two years and approximately $200,000 in legal fees to reach this stage.” Permits are typically approved within about three months, Gardiner said.

Last October, the Colorado-based explorer had asked the B.C. Supreme Court to order the province’s chief permitting officer to make a decision on the permit application.

Taranis also requested the court to ask Mines Minister Josie Osborne to clarify her statement that First Nations were “the rightful owners of the land,” and her reference to a “Ktunaxa-declared moratorium”, which Taranis thought to be contrary to law.

The project is among several in B.C. facing increased legal scrutiny, especially after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case last September that the province must consult with Indigenous groups before mineral claims can be granted to companies. The court also gave the province 18 months to modernize its Mineral Tenure Act so that it aligns with the Crown’s duty to consult.

An updated resource estimate for Thor, formally filed last week, outlines 1.1 million indicated tonnes grading 0.75 grams gold per tonne, 152 grams silver and 0.12% copper for 27,400 oz. gold, 5.5 million oz. silver and 3.1 million lb. copper. It also holds 599,000 inferred tonnes grading 0.66 grams gold, 117 grams silver and 0.15% copper for 12,800 oz. gold, 2.2 million oz. silver and 2 million lb. copper. 

Taranis had been granted in 2021 a permit to execute bulk sampling activities for up to five years.