Controversy Surrounds Application Release

Posted by Stop Ajax Mine on March 7th, 2016 1:29am

The application for the Ajax mine was submitted on January 18th.   The submission comes amidst a background of controversy.

Both MLA Terry Lake and the premier have promised that the BC government will “vigorously oppose” the First Nations land claim to the area surrounding Jacko Lake.   Lake acknowledges that the issue may be in the courts for years.   He did not comment on how this land claim issue will affect the Ajax proposal which is situated in the area involved in the land claim.

Another controversial move is the Environmental Assessment Office’s acceptance of the Ajax application  despite the absence of the revised feasibility study.  The recommendations from the Mt. Polley report clearly state the requirement of a financial feasibility study as part of any mine application involving a wet tailings facility.   The fact that market conditions for copper and gold continue to slide, combined with the company’s current serious financial struggles make it even more critical that the public has immediate access to financial feasibility information.  Without that, the Ajax application cannot claim full disclosure.   The public will remain unaware of the true financial risks to the public purse posed by the Ajax project. 

Also missing from the application is complete assay data from the drilling program.  It is not possible to properly assess the true health risks without information on the content of the rock and the dust it will release into the air and potentially the pollution it will create in waterways like Peterson Creek. 

Despite these significant omissions, the EAO has accepted the application.   The 75 day public comment period will open January 26th.  The application can be viewed at www.eao.gov.bc.ca.  Public comments will be received on the EAO website.    Our consultants are reviewing the application.  Their report will be submitted on Day 60 of the public comment period.   We also encourage everyone to consider putting in their own comments.

Comments

There are currently no comments on this blog post.

Post a Comment