Gold drilling project underway near town

Quesnel-based Richfield Ventures Corp. is looking for gold near Vanderhoof.

“Ours is the biggest project in the area by far,” says Richfield president and CEO Peter Bernier.

The Blackwater Gold project is located about 150km south of Vanderhoof on the Kluskus Forest Service Road. Local businesses are benefiting from the gold drilling project as things like food, fuel and other products are being purchased in town.

Richfield recently received a permit allowing them to continue drilling until December 2012.

“That’s huge for us,” says Bernier.

They drilled 18 holes in 2009 and so far, eight in 2010, for a total of 26 holes out of 68 planned currently.

To date, there has been limited opposition from First Nations groups in the area.

Bernier says they are conducting a low-impact archaeological assessment and are quite a distance from any First Nations reserves.

“We’re on top of a mountain, it’s pretty barren up there,” says Bernier.

Richfield began in 2003 and became publicly traded in 2007.

The budget for the project was $5 million, but has now been increased to $6 million because they are putting on a 40-man trailer camp at the site. It is expected that 30 people will be working there throughout the summer. Richfield is permitted for up to 36 people.

According to Bernier, if they find what they are looking for there will likely be a mine going in at some point.

“We’re hoping to get another drill turning and get some more people into the bush,” Bernier said. Later this month there will also be geologists coming out to see what they feel the potential is for the site.

A number of financial backers have made the project possible.

“We have our own money invested into this thing,” Bernier says. Richfield also had some financial backing from Vanderhoof, Quesnel and Prince George individuals. Last year, they had some additional funding out of Vancouver and Toronto.

“We’re slowly moving up the ladder,” Bernier says.

“We are also 30 per cent institutionally held now, so it’s very big for the banks to believe in us,” he added.

“Our goal is to have a major company come in buy us out,” says Bernier, adding that putting in a mine would be a bigger job than Richfield could take on as a small company.

The drilling site was initially discovered in 1973 during a regional silt survey.