Kaminak's Coffee gold mine road gets Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation support

Kaminak Gold Corporation says it has First Nation support for road access to its proposed mine south of Dawson City.

The planned access route runs approximately 190 kilometres from Dawson City to the Coffee Gold mine site. About 160 kilometres of public road already exists.

In a news release this week, the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation says the direct route from Dawson City will maximize economic opportunities for its citizens.

The route includes two river crossings at the Stewart and Yukon, where barges will transport trucks in summer.

Kaminak's vice-president Tim Smith says since gold will be smelted on site, they'll require about four trucks a day for supplies.

"We will not be required to truck concentrate out of the mine because we will be producing gold bars, called doré, on site at the mine, which will actually be flown out, so it's really just consumables in," he says.

Kaminak is proposing 25 kilometres of new, single lane road to make the connection.

"So that's only 25 kilometres of new land disturbance along the entire stretch and any other route wouldn't have given us that," says Allison Rippin Armstrong, Kaminak's vice-president of land and environment. 

Kaminak is bullish about the project, suggesting payback on $300-million construction costs within two years of startup.