Cariboo Gold Project highlights importance of mining in tough economic times: CEO

Sean Roosen, Chairman & CEO at Osisko Development, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the company's latest financial agreement.

The head of Canadian gold development firm Osisko says the company’s Cariboo Gold Project in central B.C. highlights the critical role mining can play in providing economic benefits to Canadians during uncertain times.

“We need jobs that can’t be tariffed out of the country, and we need jobs that stay in place. You can’t move a gold mine – it is where it is,” Sean Roosen, chairman & CEO of Osisko Development, told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday interview.

“The problem we have in Canada is a lot of our costs drive people away from the country. Personal taxes drive professionals away, so mining is one of those ones that you just can’t move… I think we should be focusing as a country on what I call the family business, which is natural resources.”

Roosen’s comments came two days after Osisko secured a US$450 million financing agreement with London, U.K.-based Appian Capital Advisory to move the Cariboo project forward.

The project, located south of Prince George, B.C., is set to produce 200,000 ounces of gold per year at the beginning of the mine’s estimated 10-year life, Roosen said. It’s the first project in a multi-phase development in the area, one that has a long mining history, he added.

“We’re 75 kilometres from the town of Quesnel, a town of 28,000 people. This is the original gold discovery after the California 49ers and it’s the reason British Columbia’s in the federation of Canada,” Roosen said.

“We’re in the town of Wells near Barkerville, and this was the largest city north of San Fransico for 40 years in the mid- to late-1800s.”

Exploration near sites of old gold mines is Osisko’s bread and butter, Roosen explained.

“We went in and did what Osisko does, we went into old mining camps… we feel like this is history repeating for us and we’ve been in here since 2015, we’ve drilled over 700,000 metres,” he said, noting that the project is fully permitted as of last year.

“We’re underground now, we’ve got about 1,200 metres of underground development in, and we’re seeing spectacular results from the underground as well.”

Roosen said it’s important for Canada to continue to explore and develop projects like Cariboo, as they provide jobs, tax revenue and other economic benefits.

“This is going to be a great project, (it will) pay a lot of taxes, create 600 jobs and probably 1,000 ancillary jobs,” he said.

“It should be a flagship for how the mining industry can help in times of economic stress.”