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by Mike Caswell

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia has ruled in favour of Skeena Resources Ltd. in its dispute over ownership of the potentially valuable tailings generated by the company's Eskay Creek mine. The court has found that Skeena did nothing to relinquish any rights to the tailings, which were deposited in nearby Albino Lake. The issue became a thorny one when a man staked the area covering the lake in 2017, and claimed to have rights to the tailings.

The victory for Skeena is contained in a judgment released on Thursday, July 4. The case arose from the Eskay Creek mine, which produced gold and silver until it shut down in April, 2008. Over the course of the mine's life, it produced 1.75 million tonnes of tailings.

As is often the case, the tailings were treated as waste during the mine's operation. At some point, however, Skeena considered that they may have some value, given that the mine operated at a relatively high cut-off grade. Skeena sampled the tailings in 2021 and found material grading up to 8.68 grams per tonne of gold, along with some silver.

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