Searching for Copper

Right when the Alberni Valley's natural resources seem to be drying up, along comes a plan to extract copper from three abandoned 19th century mines.

It could be as early as March that Victoria based Torch River Resources begins modern exploration of the three derelict mines thought to contain high-grade copper near the Alberni Canal, some 25 km south of Port Alberni.

"Our initial foray will use modern geophysics technology to look at production of the past mines," says Bill Pfaffenberger, president of Torch River Resources. "We would like to put in a low tonnage, high-grade mine."

The first extractions of copper from the mines began around 1900. At that time the mine extracted quite pure copper, but not in large quantities. Pfaffenberger is hoping to resume where the old miners left off. But first Torch River Resources will begin sampling, mapping and geophysics, in the hopes it'll get good targets. Then it will begin drilling holes.

"It's a huge property," says Pfaffenberger of the 8,000 ha. site. "We'll go at it in a methodical way."

Once the company has determined that it can get high-grade copper, and more of it than the original mine owners did at the turn of the century, it will apply for permits and begin an environmental impact assessment. To get to that point will take a year at the very least, says Pfaffenberger, probably more like 18 months.

The environmental assessment for most mines is a real hurdle because of waste pools and poisonous tailings, but Pfaffenberger says Torch River Resources will most likely just mine rock and ship it to be processed, possibly at an existing zinc mine in Strathcona. Doing so will greatly reduce the mine's impact on the surrounding environment and make an assessment less difficult to obtain.

What all this could mean to Port Alberni is jobs.

"Absolutely, there's enough local expertise in the area that we'd hire locally," says Pfaffenberger.

That's good news for a city that's feeling the global economic slowdown and has dealt with the crippled fishing and forestry industries. Even if Torch River Resources turns up nothing, it has still pledged $1.5 million dollars in exploration over the next five years, says Pfaffenberger.

That's five more years of life for a mine that's already more than a century old. Back then the miners surveyed for copper and where they thought they'd find it, they simply bored tunnels into the rock, says Pfaffenberger. The copper was then extracted and lowered by cable down the steep bluff to be carried away.

But when the mine closed, it's inconvenient location on crown land ensured that it went largely unnoticed for years until the 1960s. At that time a company tried, and failed, to get it going.

"The owner went to raise money in the market, but something went against him," says Pfaffenberger. "It never went anywhere. Maybe the price of copper fell, I don't know."

In the meantime, Torch River Resources and its partner company have letters of understanding from local First Nations bands who hold title to land affected by the planned mining activity. There's nothing to stop the new company from discovering whether it's worth going ahead for another round of resource extraction near the Alberni Valley.