Red Mountain: ENVIRONMENTAL / REGULATORY
The Red Mountain project is covered by the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines, Mineral Exploration Permit MX-1-422. This permit was first issued on June 24, 1993 and was most recently transferred to Seabridge in April 2002.
Exploration work to date includes surface geological examinations, surface diamond drilling, and underground development. Underground development totalled 1000 metres of declines and 1000 metres of crosscuts and drifts. There are 90,000 tonnes of development waste stored in two locations on surface. Of this material, 5,000 tonnes are situated adjacent to the portal and 85,000 tonnes are stored 250 metres south of the portal. The underground workings remain intact to the water level at the first main crosscut and the portal is sealed with a wooden door to prevent access. The piles were started in 1993 and the last waste rock was added in the summer of 1996.
There is a small fleet of mobile equipment at the site, mostly parked on top of the waste dump. There are also several sea containers near the portal, a wooden exploration camp in the bowl below the portal and a steel Quonset hut hanger near the camp. The equipment on site is considered adequate to carry out the proposed reclamation plan.
A reclamation plan was filed in June 1996 by Royal Oak Mines along with $1.5 million in cash reclamation security held by the Province of British Columbia under a safe keeping agreement.
Based on subsequent monitoring and site work performed by North American Metals Corp. ("NAMC"), with technical assistance provided by SRK Consulting of Vancouver, B.C., in January 2002 NAMC submitted a revised reclamation plan to the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines. The major difference between the original Royal Oak plan and the revised NAMC plan is the proposed treatment of the 90,000 tonnes of waste material. The revised plan, endorsed by SRK, involves in-place recontouring of the waste material rather than placing the material underground.
In April 2002, the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines approved the NAMC revised plan and reduced the cash reclamation bond to $1.0 million. In February 2004, Seabridge, under the direction of SRK Consulting, filed its own Reclamation Plan for the Red Mountain Project. The new reclamation plan was approved by the B.C. Ministry or Energy. Under the new plan, Seabridge has agreed to conduct periodic monitoring of the site. Seabridge believes that the $1.0 million reclamation deposit is sufficient to complete all aspects of the new reclamation plan.
