VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada Carbon Inc. (the “Company”) (TSX-V: CCB), (FF:U7N1) was recently informed of the decision of Qubec’s Agricultural Board (the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Qubec or “CPTAQ”) to suspend its review of the Company’s CPTAQ application until December 31st, 2017 due to ongoing legal proceedings regarding the validity of municipal zoning by-laws applicable to the Miller Project area. The CPTAQ indicated that it would resume its review of the Company’s application thereafter.
While this decision could potentially impact the Project’s permitting timeline, it does not affect the Company’s ongoing exploration activities or the merits of the Company’s application before the CPTAQ. The Company has mandated its external legal counsels to seek a review of the CPTAQ decision and anticipates that the CPTAQ will reconsider this matter shortly. In the meantime, the Company continues to work with its environmental consultant BluMetric Environmental in order to gather environmental data required for its upcoming environmental permit applications in connection with the Miller Project.
It should be noted that the legal proceedings to which the CPTAQ decision refers are directed solely against the Municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. Canada Carbon Inc. is involved in these proceedings as an intervenor (mise-en-cause) because a certificate of conformity was issued by the municipality confirming that the Miller Project complies with the municipal zoning by-laws. The CPTAQ and a local extraction company are also involved as intervenors in these proceedings.
In the context of these proceedings, a preliminary motion for safeguard order was filed by one of the Plaintiffs, Mr. Marc-Andr Le Gris, and was summarily dismissed by the Superior Court of Qubec, with costs. In this interlocutory judgement rendered on June 9th, 2017, the Superior Court concluded that the municipal by-laws were adopted in compliance with the applicable legal requirements and are now deemed to be valid given the absence of a timely legal challenge by the Plaintiffs. The Court also noted that the evidence presented by Mr. Le Gris does not support in any way his allegation of bad faith on the part of the municipality, and that in any event graphite mining activities are not subject to municipal zoning by-laws.
The hearing on the merits of Plaintiffs’ proceedings is scheduled to take place in February 2018 and will be based essentially on the same allegations that were unambiguously dismissed by the Court in June. In this context, the Company is confident that a similar conclusion will be reached by the Superior Court further to this hearing.
Canada Carbon has established a dedicated page on its website to host final environmental and other assessment reports, which will be updated as new information becomes available. The Miller Project Reports page can be accessed from the website home page, or by opening this link: https://www.canadacarbon.com/miller-project-reports. The Company will provide periodic updates via newspaper ads and flyers delivered to GSLR residents, and will hold further public meetings from time to time as the results of the Project feasibility study are made public and the quarry and mine permit applications are considered.
CANADA CARBON INC. |
