Seabridge Gold (TSX: SEA) has energized the Treaty Creek Terminal, the substation that will link its KSM copper-gold project in northwestern British Columbia to the provincial power grid.
The terminal was brought online on August 27 and sits on Highway 37, roughly 2 kilometres north of the KSM entrance. It is expected to be ready for service by November.
Power has been one of the quieter constraints on developing a project of KSM’s scale in a remote corner of the province. Connecting to BC Hydro rather than generating on site removes the diesel bill that would otherwise underpin construction camps, early works and eventual mining operations, and it does so on power that is already largely hydroelectric.
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“The Treaty Creek Terminal means KSM has access to reliable, clean and economic hydroelectric power which lowers KSM’s carbon footprint and reduces its operating costs,” said Rudi Fronk, chair and chief executive of Seabridge.
The practical effect is that the site now has grid capacity in place ahead of any construction decision rather than after one. Utility interconnections are among the longest-lead items on a project of this type, and having one energized and near service changes the sequencing of everything that follows.
KSM ranks among the largest undeveloped copper and gold projects held by a publicly traded company. Seabridge has put more than $1.2 billion into it to date, a meaningful share of which the company says has gone to businesses and workers in the surrounding region.
The energization lands a few months after a substantial reshaping of the company itself. Seabridge closed the spin-out of Valor Gold Corp. on June 3, transferring its 100% interest in the Courageous Lake gold project in the Northwest Territories into the new vehicle under a plan of arrangement approved by the courts in late May.
That left Seabridge more tightly built around its British Columbia holdings, which include KSM and the adjacent Bronson Corridor, alongside properties in Nevada and the Yukon.
Seabridge Gold last traded at $44.04 on the TSX.
