Ajax Application to be released January 18, 2016

Posted by Stop Ajax Mine on January 14th, 2016 4:02am

From newskamloops.com, January 13, 2016:

KGHM Ajax Mining Inc. says it will submit its application and environmental impact statement for the Ajax Mine project on Monday, Jan. 18.

Submission of the documents represents a major milestone in the copper/gold open-pit project after six years of planning and triggers the start of a 180-day application review by the B.C. Environmental Asssesment Office. It also marks the stage at which roughly 18,000 pages of documents become public for the first time.

The documents address factors of critical importance to Kamloops residents, including air quality, water quality and human health. Sections also deal with Aboriginal rights and title, management plans and monitoring, as well as accidents and malfunctions.

The company delayed submission of its application to the government to ensure that all parties had sufficient capacity to accept the submission following the holiday season. In particular, local First Nations groups had requested additional time to prepare for the upcoming technical review.

A 75-day public comment period will begin once KGHM submits the application/EIS to government.

While making the announcement Wednesday afternoon, the company also said it will launch a dedicated website on Tuesday, Jan. 19, providing public access to plain-language summaries of the technical studies in the application/EIS.

Open houses to share the results of the scientific studies are tentatively scheduled to be held Feb. 16-17.

The City of Kamloops has its own schedule that shadows the review process and considers an independent review of the application by SLR Consulting. A special council meeting will be held about two months into the BCEAO assessment period, when SLR’s preliminary review will be discussed and additional public input allowed. Then, a special council workshop will be held to clarify the results.

Prior to the end of the public comment period, another special council meeting will be held where the consultant presents a preliminary response to the mine application. Around the 135th day of the 180-day review period, council will give its official response to the application.

City council voted Tuesday to lift a restriction on public delegations wishing to address Ajax Mine concerns, a rule adopted three years ago to prevent concerns abouth the controversial proposal from crowding out other city business. The decision means that up to two delegations per week will be allowed to appear before council during the period of the environmental assessment and review.

Comments

There are currently no comments on this blog post.

Post a Comment