The Galore project stop has domino effect ...

"But the Galore Creek decision will have a profound effect on nearby projects - including Copper Fox Metal Inc.'s Schaft Creek, Imperial Metals Corp.'s Red Chris, and Western Keltic Mines Inc.'s Kutcho - said Simon Ridgway, a long-time B.C. mining financier and head of several Vancouver-based mining companies.

"Certainly any projects in that part of the region would be tough to finance. A week, 10 days ago they would have been quite easy," he said. "But for me to go to the market to raise a couple million dollars to explore a virgin prospect in northern B.C. is quite a bit more difficult today than it was last week."

A significant part of the worry stems from the B.C. government's move this week to shelve the 335-kilometre power line it had promised to build into the province's northwest, a $400-million project that was to have included $158-million in funding from NovaGold and Teck Cominco. That power line was critical to expansion plans in the northwest. Without it, mining activity in the area "will stop," said Smithers, B.C. mayor James Davidson, who pleaded with the government to build it using provincial funds."