Selwyn Chihong to begin mine feasibility study

Contractors for Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd. have started hauling equipment to its lead-zinc exploration project on the Yukon-Northwest Territories border, according to officials with the joint venture.

Selwyn Chihong announced on Wednesday that it has mobilized mining equipment and supplies for its underground advanced exploration program at its Howard's Pass property.

The property is believed to have the largest known lead-zinc deposit in the world, stretching about 66 kilometres along the Yukon-N.W.T. border.

Selwyn Chihong, a joint venture between Vancouver-based Selwyn Resources Ltd. and a Chinese mining company, is spending $100 million on exploration and a feasibility study this year.

Officials say they expect to begin exploration efforts in the middle of this summer.

Immediate access to the Howard's Pass property follows a winter road from Yukon through the N.W.T. and back into Yukon.

Selwyn Resources president and chief executive officer Harlan Meade said Mackay Range Development Corp., a Sahtu First Nations company based in Tulita, N.W.T., has been contracted to manage construction of the winter road.

"Other than a kilometre on each end, it's all in the Northwest Territories. But there are a few Kaska [Dena members] also working with that contractor," Meade told CBC News.

Environmental approvals appealed

Selwyn Chihong has also contracted two northern British Columbia companies to work on the winter road and arrange for the mining equipment to be brought in.

Environmental approvals for the Howard's Pass project are currently under court appeal by the Liard First Nation in Watson Lake, Yukon, which has raised questions about Selwyn Chihong's plans to release wastewater from the property into a nearby creek.

But Meade said he expects additional approvals from the Yukon Water Board to satisfy the First Nation's concerns.

"We believe the water board will find our proposals for mitigation and how we're going to handle water to be acceptable, and grant us a [Class] B water licence with the usual sorts of conditions," he said.

If Selwyn Chihong's feasibility study at Howard's Pass produces promising results, Meade said the joint venture plans to spend about $1 billion to develop the property.