Blackwater is just the beginning

Brian Butterworth, Past Chair, AME BC Awards Committee; and Michael McPhie, Chair, AME BC; present the H.H. "Spud" Huestis Award to Peter Bernier and Dirk Tempelman-Kluit (second from right) for their work on the Blackwater gold project. — Brian Dennehy/AME BC photo

When it comes to hot commodities, it’s hard to compete with the current lustre of gold.

Gold’s price performance over the last 10 years has been nothing short of outstanding, setting the stage for a new era of gold exploration in Canada.

Dirk Tempelman-Kluit experienced the search for gold first-hand as the vice-president of exploration for Richfield Ventures Corp., which identified the Blackwater gold project in central B.C. and was acquired by New Gold in 2011.

Tempelman-Kluit said that unlike most commodities that are mined for industrial purposes, gold is still treasured as an investment haven.

His own involvement in gold came about while working on a variety of projects with Peter Bernier, the eventual president and chief executive officer of Richfield.

In 2009, around “the time when people thought the world was coming to an end,” Tempelman-Kluit said they realized they had to do something differently.

“We knew we had to go after something other than copper, which was tanking at the time. So we went after gold.”

The area that would become Blackwater had long been surveyed and drilled by other companies, but Tempelman-Kluit said he and Bernier benefitted from having a fresh perspective on the region. He said the region looked good from the data, and where others “had been thinking veins, we were thinking bulk gold.”

After making a deal for much of the surrounding area, Richfield raised money from its investors and began a drilling program with input from a wide range of experts.

Tempelman-Kluit said the first season of drilling was a great success, with all but a few holes showing hits. With those results, raising funds became a lot easier, and subsequent drilling seasons would result in a March 2011 mineral resource estimate of 1.8 million ounces of indicated gold resources, plus 2 million ounces of inferred gold resources at Blackwater.

“It’s is a sign that you can still do that in B.C.,” said Tempelman-Kluit. “You can still find a big new deposit.”

He said since Blackwater, other companies have found significant new deposits and in many cases new types of deposits that people didn’t even realize existed.

“We didn’t even know to look for them three years ago. We didn’t even ask the question if this kind of thing existed in British Columbia.”

While Blackwater led to a rush to find other gold deposits in the area, hurdles do remain for the continued success of gold exploration in Canada. For instance, Tempelman-Kluit said while developing Blackwater he faced a permitting process that is in need of streamlining. He said the front-line ministry staff did a great job within the constraints of the system, but things could and should be improved.

Being part of a major discovery is every exploration geologist’s dream, and Tempelman-Kluit said he feels lucky to have found success with Blackwater.

“People think you have the Midas touch, but ultimately you still have to have that fortunate moment. And we had a fortunate moment.”

He adds that perhaps the best thing about Blackwater as it moves towards gold production is the good-paying jobs it will provide for many people.

“It’s going to keep communities going. It’s going to feed families. That’s a very satisfying thing to see happen.”