Opponents are starting to line up after the B.C. government granted a permit for Imperial Metals to move ahead with the planning process for a copper and gold mine in the northwest.
The open-pit Red Chris mine would be located about 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake, in a place that environmentalists like famed author Wade Davis describe as spectacularly beautiful.
"It's a place that I would say is the most enchanting wild country on earth," he told CTV News.
His family owns a lodge just a few kilometres away from the proposed site and he says the land is too ecologically valuable to be mined.
"I think it's the wrong mine in the wrong place for the wrong reason," Davis said.
Imperial Metals has received environmental approvals for the project, and the area is one that the province wants to open up to mining.
"Any mine is important; they're big producers of revenue to government. They're also big producers for people that work there," Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman said.
The local Tahltan First Nation believes the land around the proposed site is sacred and the company is promising to continue negotiations with them on the project.
"I think we can get it to the point where they'll be comfortable with it, we'll be comfortable with it as British Columbians and the public can feel comfortable with it," Imperial Metals vice-president Byng Giraud said.
If the mine goes ahead, the company hopes to process 30,000 tonnes per day.
The proposal was allowed to proceed after a 2010 Supreme Court of Canada decision in response to an appeal from MiningWatch Canada, a non-profit that had objected to an environmental assessment from the federal government.
The government's assessment had only evaluated a proposed tailings pond without taking into consideration the mine and a mill. The court ruled that while the mine can go ahead without another assessment, future projects need more comprehensive reviews.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Ed Watson and files from The Canadian Press
