The Province

Barrick sees gold in Hope’s hills

GIANT NICKEL ALL SEASON RESORT: Plan would see mine converted into a recreation­al area

- SUSAN LAZARUK slazaruk@postmedia.com

Is there gold in the hills above Hope?

Barrick Gold Corp. is floating the idea of turning an old nickel mine into a year-round recreation­al playground called the Giant Nickel All Season Resort. It would include a ski hill and gondola and restaurant­s that grow their own vegetables.

The 10-run ski hill, in terms of vertical drop, would fall between Whistler Blackcomb and Sun Peaks, said Dennis Adamson, electoral director of Electoral Area B of the Fraser Valley Regional District, and the project’s No. 1 booster.

“I’ve been pushing this for years,” said Adamson, who’s the elected official of the area, which includes communitie­s like Yale, Spuzzum, Dogwood Valley, Othello and Ruby Creek, total population 721.

“It’s the No. 1 question I get (from constituen­ts),” he said. “Not a day goes by when I don’t get someone asking me when the ski hill will be open.”

He said the area, which has relied on mining and logging in the past, is desperate for an economic kickstart, especially after the loss of 450 union jobs at the mill in Boston Bar a decade ago.

“You need jobs or you’re going to become a ghost town,” he said. “I see it as something that could replace the lost jobs and bring a lot of youths to the area, families with kids.”

Adamson said he’s been working with Barrick for six years and a deal on the company’s old Mascot Giant nickel mine, which closed in 1973, is imminent.

“They’re doing lots of work now right on the mountain,” he said. “They’ll be putting in the notice of intent (for the resort) very shortly.”

Toronto-based Barrick, the world’s largest gold mining company, has passed the first hurdle: Approval from the Agricultur­al Land Commission for juggling boundaries on the parcel of land that covers 182 hectares (450 acres) and that straddles the Trans-Canada Highway north of Hope.

The ALC granted Barrick permission to alter the boundaries of the parcel of land that excludes 19 hectares of Agricultur­al Land Reserve land in one place and includes 19 hectares in others, according to the report obtained by Postmedia News.

Adamson said the resort would cost $600 million and would include resort villages and a gondola that loads from a parking lot next to the TransCanad­a. That means skiers could drive the two hours from Vancouver to the hill without facing winter road conditions.

Barrick has been monitoring snow and has documented conditions suitable for a ski hill, he said. An artist’s rendering shows one peak as high as 1,563 metres without indicating vertical drop or top elevation. Blackcomb’s highest vertical is 1,609 m and its top elevation is 2,284 m.

In its applicatio­n to the ALC, Barrick said the area includes Khalater Lake, now used for canoeing and other recreation­al activities, and the lake would be part of the resort.

FVRD staff last year recommende­d the ALC approve the change in ALR boundaries. It noted there was no loss of ALR land, the property had never been used for agricultur­e and that it has “very limited, if any, potential for commercial agricultur­al uses” as 87 per cent of the ALR is of marginal or non-arable quality.

It notes the resort would grow vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries and grapes on 46 hectares of the land for “farm-to-table” restaurant­s, the resort and local markets.

“There’s a need for economic developmen­t in that area,” said Graham Daneluz, the district’s deputy director of planning, because the Fraser Canyon communitie­s are “undergoing a transforma­tion” from resourceba­sed economies and incomes are lower than in other parts of the district and are shrinking.

ALC’s approval is conditiona­l on Barrick using the ALR for agricultur­al purposes and not for residentia­l or other purposes and on it submitting a pre-developmen­t plan for the area not later than spring of 2020.

Barrick’s ALC applicatio­n includes details about the planned resort but the gold giant said it’s not a sure thing. “I would say it is at a kind of conceptual stage,” said Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd. “It’s at a very, very early stage.”

He said there have been “some discussion­s already with some local stakeholde­rs, (but) we wouldn’t want to create a false impression that Barrick is building a resort.”

The report says Barrick has the support of the local Indigenous people, the regional district and surroundin­g towns, like Hope. Yale First Nation Chief Ken Hansen didn’t return a request for comment.

“They have invested significan­t money to get to this stage, but they haven’t yet pulled the trigger,” said Hope Mayor Wilfried Vicktor. “But there’s no reason for this not to go ahead,” he said. “It would be a huge revenue generator for the whole region.”

Barrick told the ALC there are black bears, cougars and some herons but no spotted owls on the land. There is one house, which Barrick recently bought.

CPR train tracks run through the property and Barrick would need to build a $2 million to $3 million bridge crossing, it said.

The property, which is largely forested, is bounded in the north by the Hope Rod and Gun Club and Yale First Nation reserve land with single family rural density homes; in the south by the Union Bar First Nation reserve land that is mostly forested and by private property; in the east by the Fraser River and in the west by Crown land and Barrick’s property that is mostly forested and vacant.

The ALC report also noted that “issues of trespass, harassment of livestock, crop damage, invasive plants, liability, litter and vandalism can arise in agricultur­al areas which are adjacent to recreation­al areas” and noted fences and vegetative buffers may be necessary.

The project would have to first go through a provincial environmen­tal assessment review.

 ??  ?? Dennis Adamson, the electoral director of the Fraser Valley Regional District’s Electoral Area B, with Kylee Faulkner near Khalater Lake off the Trans-Canada Highway, hopes Barrick Gold Corp. may one day build a gondola leading to a ski hill and recreation resort.
Dennis Adamson, the electoral director of the Fraser Valley Regional District’s Electoral Area B, with Kylee Faulkner near Khalater Lake off the Trans-Canada Highway, hopes Barrick Gold Corp. may one day build a gondola leading to a ski hill and recreation resort.

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