Skeena’s Eskay Creek EA certificate: design, capex and risk notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
British Columbia has issued an environmental assessment certificate for Skeena Gold & Silver’s restart of the Eskay Creek gold-silver mine in Tahltan territory, with federal approval under the Impact Assessment Act and a requirement to substantially start by 2036. The 12-year open-pit operation is expected to produce about 320,000 oz gold-equivalent per year (455,000 oz gold in the first five years), with C$713 million in capex, roughly 1,000 peak construction jobs and 770 peak operating jobs. The certificate embeds Tahltan Nation consent via a Section 7 agreement and imposes 38 binding conditions, including co-developed measures on water, fish, air quality, human health and traffic impacts.
Technical Brief
- Consent-based assessment was conducted jointly with Tahltan Central Government, guided by a 2022 Section 7 agreement.
- Over 500 meetings with Tahltan Central Government and more than 60 local engagement sessions informed conditions.
- Tahltan risk assessment directly shaped co-developed mitigation measures and Tahltan’s ongoing compliance-monitoring role.
- Certificate imposes 38 legally binding conditions covering water, fish, air quality, human health and traffic impacts.
- Conditions require monitoring to confirm environmental effects remain within modelled and assessed prediction envelopes.
- Nisga’a Lisims Government issued formal letters of support; Gitanyow, Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha and Alaska Tribes were consulted.
Our Take
With a projected C$713 million capex and a 12‑year mine life, Eskay Creek sits in the mid-scale bracket of BC’s gold projects in our database, which typically makes schedule certainty and permitting (now de‑risked via the EAC) more critical than pure size for attracting construction financing.
The Section 7 agreement between the Government of British Columbia and the Tahltan Central Government, combined with more than 500 documented meetings, signals a higher bar for Indigenous engagement in Tahltan territory than seen at many other BC gold-silver projects in our coverage, and will likely be used as a reference point in future negotiations in the Golden Triangle.
The EAC requirement that Eskay Creek be ‘substantially started’ by 2036 effectively gives Skeena Resources a long option on development timing, which could allow the company to sequence construction with gold price cycles rather than being forced into a near-term build window.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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