Oct 29 update: The proposed Record Ridge magnesium mine outside Rossland has officially received initial mining permits and can start preparing for operation. While the company will still need to obtain other permits, such as for transport and water discharge, before it can begin operations, the mining permits are big step forward for WHY — and bad news for a landscape that’s deeply valued by wildlife and its local community.
The fight to protect Record Ridge and its threatened species and ecosystems is far from finished. Over the past year, we’ve written several blogs detailing the ecological risks of a proposed magnesium mine just outside of Rossland, B.C., that threatens rare grassland species, the endangered Mountain Holly Fern, fragile water systems, and a landscape deeply valued by local communities.
Since then, several major developments have reshaped the story, including some recent legal action and back-to-back CBC interviews with the Save Record Ridge Action Committee (SRRAC) and the mine’s proponent West High Yield (WHY) Resources. Here’s a little history, leading into where things stand now.
Environmental assessments (and how to avoid one)
In April 2024, Wildsight petitioned the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) for an environmental assessment of the proposed Record Ridge mine, arguing it had been misclassified.
In B.C., an EA is automatically triggered once a mine exceeds certain production thresholds. For example, industrial mineral quarries can extract up to 200,000 tonnes/year without review, while metal mines trigger at just 75,000 tonnes. Record Ridge applied as an industrial mineral mine, keeping its stated output under 200,000 tonnes to avoid an EA.
Wildsight challenged this, showing the project didn’t meet the legal definition of an industrial mineral mine. After strong support from residents, Indigenous Nations, local governments, and NGOs, the EAO agreed and reclassified the project, meaning an EA would be required.
Instead of accepting this, the proponent resubmitted the mine plan with production targets just below the new EA cutoff, slashing production by nearly two thirds. This follows a pattern: when the 2023 Environmental Assessment Act revision lowered thresholds from 250,000 to 200,000 tonnes, WHY immediately dropped their stated output from 249,000 to 200,000.
The strategy is clear: adjust numbers to slip under regulatory limits, and avoid an EA at all costs.
SRRAC and the Sinixt Confederacy challenged the newest proposal, pointing to a vast array of local concerns, legal issues and expert evidence supporting the argument that an EA is necessary. But in August 2025, the EAO rejected the request, and permits are now in the process of being drafted.
Microexpansions and other loopholes
Microexpanding’ is a common strategy employed by proponents in BC’s permitting process. It involves starting small and slowly scaling up operations, all the while staying below production thresholds that would trigger oversight.
In CBC’s interview with WHY Resources’ corporate secretary Barry Baim on September 25, 2025, Chris Walker does an excellent job of pressing the proponent on the possibility of expansion in the future, which Baim did his best to avoid answering on record.
Marketing materials on WHY’s own website state that a staggering 172 year mine life is possible, at a production capacity more than triple what it is currently applying for — well above the EA’s thresholds.
If WHY does choose to move past the threshold in the future, it will go through the EA process as an ‘ongoing project’ rather than as a new one, which is a much easier pill to swallow for provincial regulators. In other words, if the red-listed grassland communities, threatened species, ecological sustainability and water quality are already damaged, it is easier to approve a bigger mine.
What’s next?
The SRRAC recently challenged the provincial government in the BC Supreme Court, filing a judicial review on the EAO’s decision not to require an EA. This is likely to be a long and protracted court battle, but has the potential to change the way the “microexpansion” strategy is handled in the future.
Meanwhile, Wildsight is targeting protections at a federal level by trying to revive our emergency order petition to protect the threatened Mountain Holly Fern. This petition was originally submitted in 2023, but was stalled while the EAO made its decision.
Record Ridge isn’t being planned around ecological responsibility, but around regulatory loopholes. A mine that can only proceed by gaming the numbers and taking advantage of provincial policy flaws is a mine that cannot be trusted to protect communities, ecosystems, or the rare species and ecological communities that live on Record Ridge.
