Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd. announced a $56 M spending plan for 2014 for its Howard’s Pass lead-zinc project in eastern Yukon.
The Howard’s Pass deposit is generally viewed as the largest undeveloped lead-zinc deposit in the world. The company plans $12-13M investments in roads, plus an extensive drilling program. The company plans drilling more of the 15 identified deposits, only 2 of which have been drilled. The drilling program will employ about 70 people. Chihong aims to have a bankable feasibility study completed by 2015. The key unknowns include scale of the mining operation, power and export port (Skagway, AK or Stewart, BC).
On March 4, 2013, Selwyn Resources Ltd. announced that it has entered into an asset and share purchase agreement with Chihong Canada Mining Ltd. and Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd. to sell the company’s remaining 50 % joint venture interest in the Selwyn zinc and lead project in the Yukon Territory for $50 million in cash. Chihong Canada Mining Ltd is now the sole owner of Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd., a subsidiary of Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co., Ltd.
Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co., Ltd. has $2B in sales worldwide and employs more than 12,000 employees.
The Chinese investors are attracted to the size of the deposit and the positive investment environment in Yukon. The large expenditures in 2014 bode well for the local economy and the prospects that the project may eventually become a mine.