History
Skeena bought Eskay Creek, drilled it into a much larger project, funded it with royalties, equity and a US$750 million Orion package, and by April 2026 held its key permits.
2021-2022: Drilling rebuilds the case
Skeena set out to rebuild Eskay Creek, a gold-silver deposit it owned and planned to mine by open pit. In December 2021 it drilled a historic waste and tailings pond called the Albino facility, finding about 4 g/t gold and 163 g/t silver across twenty holes, though that material was not in any resource or study. Franco-Nevada paid C$30.9 million for flow-through shares at C$21.00 (shares whose spending must go on exploration) and gained a right of first refusal over a half-percent royalty on Eskay Creek. In March 2022 Barrick exercised warrants at C$10.80, adding C$30.4 million, and a 60,000-metre drill programme followed.
The drilling paid off. The 23 Zone was found in January 2022, then hole SK-21-997 hit 8.95 g/t gold-equivalent over 34 metres, the start of the 21A West Zone. Through 2022 further holes, including 48.48 g/t over 12.12 metres, landed inside the planned pit in ground the studies had treated as barren waste. In November 2022 a deep hole found new mineralisation at 850 metres, opening what the company called Eskay Deeps. The company also changed its gold-equivalent formula in October 2022, which lowers gold-equivalent figures for the same assays.
2022: Deals, royalties and a dispute
In June 2022 Skeena bought QuestEx Gold & Copper and sold five of its properties to Newmont for about C$27 million, which covered the cash price. Skeena kept KSP and Kingpin, near Eskay Creek and Snip, and its land package grew nearly sevenfold to 84,889 hectares. The same month, the BC government and the Tahltan Central Government agreed a consent-based decision-making framework for permitting.
A feasibility study in September 2022 put after-tax value at C$1.41 billion on C$592 million of start-up capital. That month a C$34.5 million bought deal at C$6.05 funded a C$17.5 million buyback of half of Barrick's royalty. Franco-Nevada then bought that same half-royalty for C$27 million cash plus C$1.5 million contingent, netting Skeena about C$9.5 million. In November 2022 the BC Supreme Court dismissed Skeena's appeal of the Chief Gold Commissioner's decision in its dispute with Richard Mill over the Albino facility; Skeena said it would appeal.
2023-2024: Bigger resource, harder funding
In April 2023 Hochschild abandoned its option to earn 60% of the Snip project after meeting its minimum spending, returning full ownership to Skeena. A June 2023 resource update lifted the measured and indicated resource to 5.59 million ounces gold-equivalent and raised the share of the best-confidence category to 73%. Snip's resource was restated at 823,000 ounces, based on 307 infill holes drilled by Skeena and Hochschild in 2021-22, with the plan to look at feeding its ore to the Eskay Creek mill.
The November 2023 definitive feasibility study raised value to C$2.0 billion, but start-up capital rose to C$713 million and the return fell to 43%. In December Franco-Nevada provided C$81 million: C$56 million for a further 1.0% royalty, taking its total to 2.5%, and a C$25 million convertible debenture. Management said it was avoiding ordinary share issues because the market was difficult, though a C$10.7 million flow-through raising at C$8.53 also took place that month. The 2023 drilling largely failed to repeat 2022: eight Eskay Deeps holes found only trace mineralisation in the target rock.
In June 2024 Orion Resource Partners committed US$750 million: a US$350 million senior secured loan, a US$200 million gold stream, US$100 million of equity and a US$100 million cost-overrun stream. In July the BC Court of Appeal ruled that Skeena had never given up its rights to the Albino material.
2024-2025: Permits and a new discovery
In December 2024 BC approved a 10,000-tonne bulk sample, which unlocked the rest of the Orion gold stream; Skeena drew US$45 million on 30 December. In January 2025 first-ever drilling at KSP found the Camp Porphyry gold-copper system, including 0.71 g/t gold over 381.47 metres of core, which is large-volume, low-grade and early stage.
The environmental assessment application, first filed in August 2024, was revised and uploaded in April 2025, and joint Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permit applications followed, with a certificate expected in Q4 2025. In April 2025 the Supreme Court of Canada refused leave to appeal in the Albino case, sending the ownership question back to the Gold Commissioner for rehearing. In May Skeena signed an agreement to connect to an existing power line 17 kilometres away.
Equity funded the work: C$88.3 million in February 2025 at C$14.70 and C$17.93, and C$143.8 million in October at C$24.00. Shares on issue rose from 65.4 million at the end of 2021 to 121.3 million at the end of 2025. The October raising came with news of a delay from a BC government employee strike.
2026: Permits granted and refinancing
On 27 January 2026 Skeena announced the BC Environmental Assessment Certificate and federal Impact Assessment approval, later than the Q4 2025 expectation. The next day it announced the BC Mines Act permit. On 31 March it proposed US$750 million of senior secured notes to refinance the project financing and partly buy back the gold stream; they priced on 2 April and completed on 10 April. The filings seen give no terms. As of 13 May 2026 the company was not yet a producer, the Albino rehearing was still pending, and the outcome of the Tahltan impact benefits agreement ratification was not seen in the filings.
Written from the 46 story beats below (2021 to 10 Apr 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.