The company behind a proposed Rossland-area magnesium mine has received a permit to cut trees.
West High Yield announced that it has received authorization from BC’s Ministry of Forests, which the company called “another significant milestone” for the project, following the receipt of a Mines Act permit last year and a highway access permit this past June.
“In parallel, we continue to progress our engineering, metallurgical, commercial, and financing efforts,” the company said. “Record Ridge represents a substantial North American magnesium resource, and its strategic importance grows as the region seeks secure sources of critical minerals.”
The latest license allows the company to remove timber within a 50-hectare area so it can begin construction. The company says before it can start logging, it still has to satisfy some requirements under the permit, including posting the balance of a security.
West High Yield said it is also working on fulfilling the remaining environmental authorizations required and on technical work required to support the next stage of engineering and project development.
But a director with the local group that has been fighting the mine said he found it “deeply troubling” that the Ministry of Forests has issued the latest license because residents’ concerns remain unanswered.
“Record Ridge contains old-growth forest, rare grassland ecosystems, red-listed ecological communities, and habitat for species at risk,” Nils French said in an email. “It is also a prime recreational area for the region.”
French said his group and others have raised concerns with the province about clear-cutting and other disturbance at Record Ridge. He said the area authorized under the cut license is almost twice that authorized for disturbance under the Mines Act permit. Concerns have also been raised about areas that have not received environmental surveys due to the relocation of an access road, he added.
French said representatives of three Indigenous nations carried out archaeological fieldwork at Record Ridge last week. His group told the Ministry of Forests that the resulting report was expected by Sept. 25 and asked that no approvals be issued before then.
“The Ministry did not reply and then issued the licence anyway, before receiving the report,” he said. “When a community raises detailed concerns and receives no substantive answer before an approval is issued, it is difficult to see how that public input has meaningfully been considered when making the decision.”
Save Record Ridge took the government to court over its decision not to subject the project to a full-scale environmental review. A judge declined to refer the case back to the province for reconsideration, but that ruling is now under appeal. A separate judicial review of the Mines Act permit is scheduled for November. French said they are “very concerned about irreversible clear-cutting or site preparation” occurring before the courts hear those cases.
The group is also urging the province to withhold an environmental discharge permit.
