Another week, another partnership agreement with Cardero Resource Corp.
The mining company leading the development of the proposed Carbon Creek Coal Mine near Hudson's Hope said it has a letter of intent with forest company Conifex Timber Inc. and its transportation subsidiary Navcor Inc.
Last Wednesday, Cardero announced a new president and CEO in Hendrik Van Alphen, and the next day he announced two a deal with Canfor to mill the timber to be logged from the proposed mine's site and to rent Canfor's transport vessel on Williston Lake to transport construction materials in and the initial coal shipments out.
Should the mine be approved and become operational, the coal would be mined near the eastern end of the Peace Reach, barged westward to the main body of Willison Lake then southward to the Mackenzie railhead. From there it would be taken by train through Prince George and on to Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert for coastal shipping.
Friday's developments were for more aspects in the movement of the coal. Part of the Conifex deal is to lease lands held by the forestry company at the Mackenzie industrial zone.
"[Cardero] intends to develop the site as a metallurgical coal transload facility, which would handle all aspects of coal transfer from barge to rail," said Van Alphen. "The transload facility will be the interface between the two forms of transportation, consisting of a barge docking system, through which metallurgical coal will be unloaded from a barge, and a railcar loading system, through which the coal will be loaded onto empty rail cars for transportation to Ridley. At full production, it is presently envisioned that the transload facility will be capable of handling up to 5 million tonnes per annum."
The initial lease term will be 20 years, ultimately renewable to 40 years, he said.
The companies will work together in the coming weeks to design a mutually agreeable facility layout plan. This will help all involved come to a final, binding agreement, Van Alphen said.
Many arrangements with government and other service providers must still be made for permits and licenses for the transload facility to go ahead. Geotechnical testing for the rail track and civil work is anticipated to be completed later this year.
