Newmont Corporation (TSE: NGT) (NYSE: NEM) (FRA: NMM) is investing C$8 million into local Indigenous communities near the mining major’s Red Chris Mine in British Columbia’s north.
Announced at a celebratory event Saturday before being detailed in a news release on Monday, the funding is being contributed to celebrate 10 years of production at the gold-copper project. Newmont obtained the operation through its merger with Newcrest two years ago.
“Hundreds of people from Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake and Iskut joined the celebration which featured speeches from Newmont, Tahltan leadership and Minister Jagrup Brar [BC’s mining and critical minerals minister],” Newmont communications director, Keivan Hirji, explained in a LinkedIn post.
Red Chris is overseen in close collaboration with the Tahltan Nation. The open pit mine contributes annual royalties to a trust fund established by the Indigenous organization.
“This historic contribution will support long-term projects that matter most to Tahltan families,” the First Nations Group, 220 of whom are employed at Red Chris, said on social media, “including education, health, cultural revitalization and local infrastructure.”
Specifically, Newmont explained that a significant portion of the monies will be allocated toward housing projects, recreation centres and greenhouses.
Photo credit: Newmont Corporation
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Red Chris produces over 80M lbs of copper per annum
The Golden Triangle region where the mine resides produces about three quarters of Canada’s copper. Red Chris is a major contributor.
Additionally, the province hosts the largest copper mine in the entire country at Highland Valley — operated by Teck Resources Ltd. (TSE: TECK.B) (TSE: TECK.A) (NYSE: TECK).
In 2023, copper contributed C$9.4 billion to the nation’s economy.
Hirji, Newmont’s communications manager, recently claimed that Red Chris and the company’s Brucejack operation in BC have the potential to boost Canada’s copper production by over 50 per cent in the years to come.
Newmont said last year that although Red Chris is an open pit operation, its future is underground. The world’s largest gold company will be employing a method called block cave mining to extract its resources through an intricate tunnel network.
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