Casino Mine project unaffected by weak metal prices, says president

Yukon's massive proposed Casino mine project is not in jeopardy from declining metal prices, says Western Copper and Gold president Paul West-Sells.

The company's subsidiary,Casino Mining Corporation, is planning to build what would be the Yukon's biggest mine, about 400 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse.

If the mine is approved, the company says it could produce more than 400,000 ounces of gold and more than 200 million pounds of copperannually. It says the mine could employ up to 1,000 people at peak constructionand have a life of about 22 years.

West-Sells acknowledges copper and gold prices have been droppingbut says that's been offset by the falling Canadian dollar.

"If you go back three years ago, copper was at $3 (per pound), but the exchange rate was at one to one," he said.

"Now copper is $2.43;the exchange rate is 77 cents. That actually equals $3.15 in Canadian dollars so it actually has less impact on our project than you would think."

'Clear consensus' copper prices will go up, says West-Sells

West-Sells says the current drop in metal prices is largely due a perception of weakness in the Chinese economy and the collapse of the Shanghai Stock Market.

He says, however, construction is still booming in China.

"This is a project that is going to be coming online sometime after 2020 depending on permits, so itcertainly impacts us what the copper price is today because it changes the investment atmosphere,"West-Sells said.

"But what is the copper price predicted in 2020?If you look at that, there's a fairly clear consensus that the copper price is going to go up and that's a fairly simple supply and demand equation, andjust the fact that there's a lot of copper mines that have been built back in the 1990s and the 1980s that are going to be closing down and you need to replace that production."

The Casino Project is in the early stages of the environmental permitting process.The company has submitted an application.

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board,in turn, has requestedmore information before it proceeds with its assessment of the project.