Seabridge Gold is planning to spend $150 million this year to bring its KSM gold-copper mine project up to 含羞草研究社渟ubstantially started含羞草研究社� status.

By doing so, the company, which has offices in Smithers, hopes secure its environmental certificate, further de-risk the project and attract the partner it has been seeking since the beginning.

含羞草研究社淯ltimately, that is our objective, is to joint venture,含羞草研究社� said Brent Murphy, Seabridge vice-president of environmental affairs. 含羞草研究社淪eabridge does not have the financial or the technical wherewithal to take [the project] all the way through to construction and operations.含羞草研究社�

The fieldwork required to advance the project is being made possible by an investment by Sprott Resource Streaming and Royalty Corp. and the Ontario Teachers含羞草研究社� Pension Plan.

Last week, the company announced it had sold a $225,000 含羞草研究社渟ecured note含羞草研究社� to Sprott and the Ontario Teachers that will give the investors a 60 per cent return on silver revenue from the mine. Seabridge currently estimates silver will account for three per cent of the mine含羞草研究社檚 total revenue.

According to Murphy, the investment will allow the company to put the infrastructure in place that will allow them to update their preliminary feasibility study (PFS).

This includes road construction and a deal with BC Hydro to connect the proposed mine site to the utility含羞草研究社檚 Northwest Transmission Line.

含羞草研究社淭hat means KSM will be powered by green energy, hydropower, which is fantastic,含羞草研究社� Murphy said. 含羞草研究社淪o, we don含羞草研究社檛 have to rely on generators going forward. It含羞草研究社檒l help minimize our carbon footprint.含羞草研究社�

Work is already underway he said.

含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檙e working very closely with BC Hydro now. They含羞草研究社檙e actually out in the field now starting to work on they含羞草研究社檙e declaring work on this switching station site.

The updated PFS will add the Snowfield Deposit (a.k.a. the East Mitchell Deposit) Seabridge just purchased from Petivm at the end of 2020 to the project.

含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 our belief that by bringing that deposit into the mine plan, we含羞草研究社檒l have a significant improvement on the project financing, or on the project finances and rate of return and we think that含羞草研究社檒l generate a lot of interest,含羞草研究社� he said.

The project, touted as 含羞草研究社渨orld含羞草研究社檚 largest undeveloped gold project by resources,含羞草研究社� originally received its Environmental Assessment Certificate in 2014. The certificate has been extended twice since then and the project must be substantially started in order to ensure the continuity of the certificate throughout the life of the project.

The company currently estimates a lifespan of 52 years once the mine is in production.

Murphy is confident all of these factors will enhance the company含羞草研究社檚 position in joint venture negotiations.

He said the company is currently engaged in discussions with a number of potential senior partners who could see the project through to construction and operations.

He did not say whether one of those potential partners is Australian gold mining giant Newcrest, which has in the past three years acquired two major mining operations in northwest B.C., the Red Chris mine in 2019, and most recently, just a couple of weeks ago, Brucejack Mine.

Murphy added Seabridge intends to match the $150 million 2022 expenditure in 2023 as well, noting that 75 to 85 per cent of that money will go to local and Indigenous contractors.

含羞草研究社淏y the end of 2023, we will have invested $800 million into the project, which is obviously a substantial amount of money,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淎nd we are working closely with our Indigenous partners, specifically the Nisga含羞草研究社檃 and Tahltan, as well as our other indigenous groups, the Gitanyow, Gitxsan and Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha.含羞草研究社�

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Pardon me, are you still trying to sell that mine? Or? Yes, ultimately, that is our objective is to joint venture. So yeah, cool. theeword does not have financial or the technical wherewithal to take it all the way through to construction and operations.