system for direct delivery to customers in the United States, Mexico and

eastern Canada.2/

ca Proposed Routing

The proposed routing will substantially alter the existing transportation
system used by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. Asbestos fibre would be
loaded in 20 ton containers at Cassiar and placed in specially designed con-
tainer trucks. The loaded trucks would be routed over the Cassiar-Stewart
Highway (Highway 37) some 334 miles to the Port of Stewart at the head of the
Portland Canal. The containerized asbestos would be reloaded onto barges at
a proposed RivTow Straits Ltd. dock and terminal facility. The containers
then would be barged to Vancouver and loaded onto deep-sea vessels. Direct
customer deliveries to the United States would continue to be routed to Fort
Nelson using the British Columbia Railway system. Exhapait. 2:1 ibtustrates

schematically the transportation system requirements of the proposed routing.

Sak Highway

The Cassiar-Stewart Highway is a two-lane gravel surfaced road which extends
primarily from Stewart to Watson Lake (403 miles) where the highway connects
with the Alaska Highway. At Meziadian Lake, 39 miles east of Stewart, the
highway connects to another section of Highway 37 which branches off to Terrace
and Kitwanga. Exhibit 2.2 is a map showing Highway 37 in relation to the
transportation system in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. The
Department of Highways, over a period of time, has been widening and regravell-
ing the highway as well as constructing a number of bridges to upgrade the
standard of this highway. In the three fiscal years 19676-1979, the Depart-
ment of Highways plans to spend some $30 million on upgrading the standard of
the highway. The existing highway has been constructed to standards that are
acceptable to specially designed container trucks except for strengthening the
existing Bailey type bridges for the anticipated vehicle weight load. Ie ais
suggested that the highway be reclassified as a Resource Road and that funds
allocated for surface paving should be re-allocated for river crossing upgrading.

2/ See Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. Annual Report, 1976, for additional
details on the company, the mining’ operation and the transportation of
asbestos fibre.