The venture proposed through the Watson Island Development Corporation plans to purchase the former Skeena Cellulose pulp mill properties in Prince Rupert and nearby Port Edward.

The Vancouver-based developers expect to establish a seaport terminal and industrial park on nearby Watson Island.

“A new shipping terminal will contribute to Prince Rupert’s reputation as a trade gateway to Asia,” Prince Rupert mayor Jack Mussallem said.

“It will create permanent direct and indirect jobs and significantly expand the city’s industrial tax base.”

Sale conditions include development, approval and funding of a plan to remediate the land, which has been contaminated by decades of pulp mill operation.

Colonial and Hillsborough have offered to fund the planning process and make a “significant” contribution to the cleanup pending provincial government approval.

Local government approval, historic licensing, regulatory issues and court actions against the local governments by the former owner will still need to be resolved before the sale can be concluded.

Hillsborough operates the 500,000 tonnes per annum Quinsam mine on Vancouver Island, the only underground thermal coal mine in Canada.

Colonial Coal focuses on British Columbian metallurgical coal and is developing the 92 million tonne Huguenot property in the province’s northeast.