Blue Lagoon Resources, a Canadian mineral exploration company, has entered a mine restart agreement with Lake Babine Nation (LBN) for its Dome Mountain gold mine project in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
This agreement allows Blue Lagoon to begin underground mining operations at the Dome Mountain gold mine, which is a 50-minute drive from Smithers.
The Dome Mountain project holds both an Environmental Management Act (EMA) permit and a mining permit to begin mining.
This property has 26 claims and 15 known high-grade gold veins. Around 90% of the nearly 22,000ha property is yet to be explored.
The technical report suggests a mineral resource of 45,000oz of gold (Au) and 250,000oz of silver (Ag) in the measured category and 173,000oz of Au and 876,000oz of Ag in the indicated category.
In the inferred category, the mine has around 16,000oz of Au and 71,000oz of Ag.
When compared with resources measured in 2010 and limited infill drilling conducted in 2020 and 2021, the contained gold ounces increased by 30% and silver ounces by 46%.
The company submitted a mining application in October 2022, followed by an initial ministry screening process this July. Soon after, the application was resubmitted for review.
Since then, two rounds of comments were completed between Blue Lagoon and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and LBN.
In addition to permitting, the company and LBN drafted an agreement that lays the foundation for cooperation on developing the Dome Mountain gold project.
Lake Babine Nation chief Murphy Abraham said: “The Lake Babine Nation has worked closely with Blue Lagoon Resources for more than a year now to get to know the company, review their restart proposal, and discuss how this project could move forward in a way that is safe for our yintah and respectful of our Aboriginal title and rights.
“We now have an agreement confirming how we will work together once Dome Mine resumes operations and how the Lake Babine people will share in the benefits of this operation. I really appreciate Blue Lagoon’s commitment to seeking Lake Babine’s consent for this project and for doing business the right way on our yintah, and I look forward to a successful and sustainable restart of Dome Mine.”
