Mining plan likely to undergo major review
Geodex | Study to look at impact on the local environment
dailygleaner.canadaeast.com
By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
llewellyn.stephen@dailygleaner.com
Published Saturday April 12th, 2008
Appeared on page A1
Environment Minister Roland Hache will have the final say on whether the largest new mining project in New Brunswick in 25 years will have to undergo a comprehensive environmental review.
Geodex Minerals Ltd. wants to build an open-pit tungsten, molybdenum and copper mine located 60 kilometres northwest of Fredericton.
The company said the mine will create 750 construction jobs and 300 operational jobs for the projected 30-year life of the mine. Geodex hopes the mine can start producing by 2011.
But before the heavy equipment can start digging, the project must go through the province's environmental impact assessment review.
The first step is when the company formally registers the project with the Department of Environment.
"We are expecting to register in May," said Kelli Bergh, project manager with Vancouver-based Rescan Environmental Services, which has been hired by Geodex to oversee the environmental review.
New Brunswick's environmental impact assessment regulations date back to 1987 and fall under the Clean Environment Act.
Once a project is registered, it undergoes an environmental determination which looks at the basic environmental facts and impact of the work.
Bergh said Friday that Geodex will look at the area's weather, surface water, groundwater, animal and plant life, local population and how people use the land for recreation. The company has also hired an archeologist from Nova Scotia, she said.
She said the bulk of the work will be done this summer, with the results sent to a technical review committee operated by the Department of Environment, which includes representation from several provincial departments and the federal government.
The committee reviews the information provided by the company, asks questions and can call for more study, she said. There can be considerable back and forth between the committee and the company, and the process can take anywhere from a few months to a year, said Goucher.
Under the regulations, after the environmental determination is complete, the environment minister can approve the project, deny the project or call for further study through a comprehensive review.
Bergh said Geodex is working on the assumption that there will be a comprehensive review.
"Normally for mines this size, a comprehensive environmental assessment is required," she said.
A comprehensive assessment can take as little as 15 months or as long as two years, said Goucher.
There are four comprehensive environmental assessments underway in New Brunswick: the Irving Oil Ltd. refinery expansion in Saint John, the removal of the Eel River Dam, the J.D. Irving industrial landfill and the proposed modifications to the Petitcodiac River.
Within 30 days of the comprehensive assessment being complete, the rules require the environment minister to release it for public review and hold a public meeting for input.
In addition, interested parties have 15 days after the public meeting to submit written comments.
After that, the minister submits his recommendation to the provincial cabinet for a final decision.
Allen Curry, director of the Canadian Rivers Institute and professor of biology, forestry and environment management at the University of New Brunswick, said the project needs a comprehensive environmental assessment.
He's particularly concerned about the mine's tailing pond, which will hold the material left over after the 20,000 tonnes of ore extracted each day is processed.
Such tailing ponds can contain potentially toxic material such as copper, arsenic and mercury that occurs naturally in New Brunswick rock, he said.
"The problem with the presentation so far is that they haven't actually told us where the final location of this tailing pond will be, or even the possible locations," said Curry.
The history of mining has many instances of tailing ponds rupturing or flooding and severely damaging nearby rivers, he said.
Rivers in the area of the proposed Geodex mine include Naskwaak River and Keswick River. Both drain into the St. John River near Fredericton.
"We are not opposed to the mine at all," said Curry. "All we are trying to do is make sure if we are going to build a mine, we are going to do it right." |
