Tudor Gold sues B.C. over Seabridge mine tunnel dispute

The Vancouver-based miner alleges the province’s Chief Gold Commissioner (CGC) reversed an earlier promise to safeguard its mineral rights.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Tudor Gold (CVE: TUD) has filed a lawsuit against the Canadian province of British Columbia, alleging it allowed rival Seabridge Gold (TSE: SEA)(NYSE: SA) to tunnel through its mineral claims in the Golden Triangle, a resource-rich region stretching 500 kilometres from Stewart toward Yukon and Alaska.

The case, launched in the Supreme Court of B.C. on October 3, challenges the legality of a conditional mineral reserve connected to Seabridge’s Kerr–Sulphurets–Mitchell (KSM) copper, gold, silver and molybdenum project.

The reserve prevents Tudor, which owns the neighbouring Treaty Creek property, from obstructing or interfering with construction or operation of the Mitchell Treaty Tunnels (MTT) — two proposed 23-kilometre tunnels linking the east and west sides of the KSM site.

The Vancouver-based miner alleges the province’s Chief Gold Commissioner (CGC) reversed an earlier promise to safeguard its mineral rights. About 12.5 kilometres of the planned tunnels would cross through Tudor’s Treaty Creek claims. The company has battled the issue for nearly a decade, after the commissioner rejected its request to rescind the conditional mineral reserve protecting Seabridge’s tunnelling rights.

The KSM project is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits and also holds significant silver, copper and molybdenum resources. The mine is expected to operate for 33 years. Tudor and its partners, meanwhile, have explored the adjacent Goldstorm deposit, which is also rich in copper, gold and silver, since the early 2010s.

Courtesy: www.mining.com