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Canada

Galore Creek Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotGalore Creek is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-silver deposits.

The Galore Creek Project is currently in care and maintenance, managing environment, social and permit conditions.

Work informing the prefeasibility study, including value engineering to understand opportunities to de- risk and improve project economics, will continue through 2024, with the feasibility study targeted to start in the fourth quarter of 2024. We continue to work closely with the Tahltan Central Government to incorporate Tahltan knowledge and experience into the project design. Strategic, technical and commercial assessments for the advancement of Galore Creek, including focused field programs, permitting and community engagement work, are ongoing.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Teck Resources Ltd. (operator) 50 % Indirect
Newmont Corp. 50 % Indirect
Galore Creek Mining Corp. (operator) 100 % Direct
The Galore Creek project is owned by the Galore Creek Partnership, a 50:50 partnership between Teck and Newmont Corporation, and is managed by Galore Creek Mining Corporation (GCMC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Galore Creek Partnership.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Porphyry
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The Galore Creek property is interpreted to be an example of an alkalic porphyry copper–gold–silver system.

The Project is situated within the Stikine Terrane, an exotic terrane accreted to the ancestral North American craton. A sequence of Permian, Mississippian and Devonian age calc-alkaline and bimodal flows and volcaniclastic rocks, interbedded carbonate and minor shale and chert, termed the Stikine assemblage, form the basement of the terrane. Unconformably overlying the Stikine assemblage is a succession of Lower to Middle Triassic sedimentary and upper Triassic volcanic rocks.

The Galore Creek Syenite Complex, of Tertiary age, is centered in the west fork of Galore Creek and is 5 km in length and 2 km in width. The deposits are hosted by potassium-enriched volcanic rocks and pipe-like breccias adjacent to syenite stocks and dykes. They are manto-shaped, and trend north to northeast, following either, or both, syenite contacts and structural breaks. To date, 14 deposits and prospects have been identified, five of which, the Central Zone, Southwest Zone, Junction Zone West Fork Zone and Middle Creek Zone are of economic interest.

Disseminated pyrite is the most abundant sulphide mineral. Chalcopyrite and bornite in the ratio 10:1 are the main copper minerals. Sphalerite and galena are associated with garnet-rich areas and trace amounts of molybdenite, native silver, native gold and tetrahedrite have been noted (Allen, 1966). Magnetite occurs in veinlets with or without chalcopyrite, and often cements breccias. Secondary minerals identified include chalcocite, cuprite, native copper and tenorite.

Bornite and generally higher-grade gold are developed in the intense potassic alteration zone, and are associated with magnetite and sparse pyrite. Within the propylitic zone, zones of moderate potassic alteration have developed, and have associated chalcopyrite and pyrite mineralization. External to these potassic zones, but still within the propylitic zone, replacement lodes of gold, silver and base metals have formed.

Where surface exposures have been mapped in the Central deposit, malachite, azurite, hematite, and limonite, occurring both as locally pervasive disseminations and as widespread fracture-controlled infills, have been noted. Rare chalcocite and native copper were also noted. Typically, chalcopyrite and bornite are also found with the copper oxides. Drill core logs from Central have identified an oxide zone with average depths of 20 m below the overburden surface; however, weak fracture-controlled oxidation has been logged to depths of = 200 m. The oxide zone mimics the topography, weakens down-hole, and rarely reaches the broken–stick rock surface.

Oxidation is variable outside of the Central Zone. The Junction and West Fork deposits show trace to minimal oxidation. The Southwest Zone shows minimal oxidation and the Middle Creek deposit shows significant oxidation.

Central Zone
The Central Zone consists of the North Gold Lens, the Central Replacement Zone, and the South Gold Lens, which are differentiated based on gross differences in mineralogy.

The long axis of the Central Zone deposit has an orientation of 015° and dips steeply to the west. It is 1,700 m long, 200 to 500 m wide and has been traced to a depth of 450 m and remains open at depth. Mineralization crops out in the southern part of the zone, but elsewhere is covered by up to 75 m of glacially-derived material (Workman, 2006a).

The deposit plunges gently to the north and at its maximum thickness is 335 m. It comprises several parallel, en-echelon copper zones centred on a steeply-dipping breccia pipe. Mineral zoning consists of an intense potassic core zone, which hosts the mineralization, and a spotty propylitic alteration zone which occurs mainly along the eastern edge of the deposit.

Southwest Zone
The Southwest Zone is located about 600 m southwest of the south end of the Central Zone and contains some of the highest grade near-surface gold mineralization. Drilling has outlined an elongate pod-shaped body that trends roughly east–west and dips approximately 60° to the south. The zone is up to 400 m long and may be as wide as 140 m. It is still open at depth, and from 2005 drilling, may also be open along strike.

Junction and Junction North Zones
The Junction and North Junction Zones lie about 2 km northwest of the Central Zone and are about 460 m higher in elevation than Central. Both deposits have similar geological characteristics to the Central Zone.

The Junction deposit is a tabular northeast-striking, northwest-dipping body. It can be traced from surface exposures and drill holes 700 m along strike and 200 m down dip. The North Junction deposit, 350 m to the east, is podiform with the long axis plunging to the northwest.

Copper mineralization is well exposed on the slopes of Junction Creek, where the stream cuts through the Junction deposit. Mineralization is partially controlled or bound by Junction Porphyry and syenite dykes that parallel the deposit. On the south end of the deposit, the Junction Porphyry marks the hanging wall of the mineralization.

West Fork Zone
The West Fork Zone (also known as the West Fork Glacier Zone) lies in the valley floor less than 1 km south of the Central Zone and less than 50 m higher in elevation than Central. West Fork contains two adjacent but distinctly different styles of mineralization: disseminated sulphide replacements similar to portions of the Central Zone, and massive veining (Opulent Vein). Higher grade disseminated zones appear to be controlled by structures, though distinct veining is absent.

There are four distinct zones of mineralization, the Opulent Vein, the Upper Opulent Zone, the Lower Opulent Zone, and the Lower West Fork Zone. The first three mineralized zones are hosted in a breccia unit. The Opulent Vein is north–south trending and steeply west-dipping. The high-grade mineralization is defined by a massive magnetite–bornite–chalcopyrite assemblage which is hosted in a near-surface magnetite breccia. The Upper and Lower Opulent Zones parallel the Opulent Vein and are characterized by less intense bornite and chalcopyrite mineralization. The known extent of the Opulent vein is limited within a breccia mass and strikes approximately 355° with a steep westerly dip. The extent of the zone is 150 m in length and 100 m in depth. In general, mineralization shows a progression from bornite laterally to chalcopyrite with increasing pyrite peripheral in the system. Isolated intervals of anomalous gold occasionally >1 g/t Au have been encountered.

Middle Creek
Limited exploration has been completed over this prospect. Middle Creek is located approximately 1 km west of the Central Zone. In 1991, field mapping found mineralization reported by prospectors in the mid 1960s.

Mineralization is characterized by finely-disseminated bornite, chalcopyrite and magnetite associated with pervasive fine-grained biotite and garnet alteration, hosted in a breccia or volcaniclastic unit. Middle Creek is the most oxidized zone discovered to date on the Galore Creek property. Drilling during 2005 encountered malachite and native copper mineralization (Workman, 2006a).

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Copper Concentrate kt 10,002
Copper Payable metal M lbs 3225,950
Gold Payable metal koz 2083,850
Silver Payable metal koz 3,04056,100

Production Costs

CommodityEstimated
Credits (by-product) Copper -1.04 / lb *  CAD
Cash costs Copper 1.83 / lb *  CAD
Cash costs Copper 0.79 / lb * **  CAD
Assumed price Copper 2.5 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Silver 16.9 / oz *  USD
Assumed price Gold 1,050 / oz *  USD
* According to 2011 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency2024
OP mining costs ($/t mined) CAD 6.7 *  CAD
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2011 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M CAD 3,041
Refining costs $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Freight costs $M CAD 640.2
G&A costs $M CAD 385.4
Total OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Mining Taxes $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total Taxes $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Royalty payments $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 5% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 7% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 15, 2024
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Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2011

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