Heather Latter
New Gold is closer than it’s ever been to developing a mine here in Rainy River District.
The intermediate gold producer was pleased to hear Monday that federal Environment minister Leona Aglukkaq has determined the company’s Rainy River Project, located north of Barwick, is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.
“We’re obviously extremely pleased,” Kyle Stanfield, New Gold’s director of environment and sustainability, said yesterday from Toronto.
“I think, as everyone in the district understands, decisions like this really do take years of effort to achieve and support and involvement from the broad community in the Rainy River District, which we’ve certainly had,” he noted.
“So we’re very pleased.”
New Gold has proposed an open-pit and underground gold mine and on-site metal mill, with mining expected to occur for 15-20 years.
It is looking at an ore production capacity of 27,000 tonnes per day.
Aglukkaq has identified, in her environmental assessment decision statement, the conditions the company must meet with respect to mitigation measures and follow-up program requirements.
In reaching her decision, Aglukkaq considered the Environmental Assessment Report, which includes the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s conclusions and recommendations regarding the potential environmental effects of the project, as well as the proposed mitigation measures, the significance of any remaining adverse environmental effects, and the follow-up program.
Stanfield said the decision came in a little bit earlier than the company was expecting.
“When I had the call [Monday] from CEAA headquarters in Ontario, it was a very congratulatory call,” he remarked.
“I think that the federal government clearly expressed satisfaction with our work with the communities, our high level of respect for environmental management, and the complete environmental assessment, which we had rolled out in final form one year ago to the public,” he noted.
Stanfield said it “doesn’t always go this way for major resource development projects.”
“I think that long ago, Rainy River Resources, and now New Gold, recognized we needed to plan for this and we needed to work diligently towards a successful conclusion,” he explained.
“And I’m proud to say that our team has been able to do that in a collaborative manner with our federal regulatory authorities, and we intend to follow through on our commitments.”
As part of the strengthened and modernized Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, which was put in place to support the government’s Responsible Resource Development Initiative, the CEAA conducted a federal environmental assessment of this project using a science-based approach.
As it proceeds to the next phase, this project will continue to be subject to Canada’s environmental laws, rigorous enforcement and follow-up, and fines for non-compliance.
Stanfield said the positive decision from the federal government shows Ottawa agreed with the conclusions of the company’s environmental assessment report.
“It is essentially the first authorization for the project to proceed and paves the way for subsequent authorizations from various federal departments, including Fisheries and Oceans,” he noted.
“This is mandatory step,” Stanfield added.
“If we hadn’t got that step, then obviously we would have had a major issue, but we’ve met it and we’re very happy.”
Now the company will wait to hear if the provincial government agrees.
“We have been working very closely with the province, together with the federal government, for over three years now to have a harmonized environmental assessment on this major project,” Stanfield said.
“And I would say that the process has gone well.”
Stanfield indicated he has been working very closely with the provincial Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, in particular.
“I have received very supportive feedback from Minister [Michael] Gravelle, Minister [Bill] Mauro, as well as the premier’s office, in recent months—in fact, directly from the premier’s office in terms of our level of effort with communities,” he remarked.
“We are looking forward to a provincial decision imminently.”
Stanfield added the step is a historic one.
“This is the very first project to go through this process in Ontario history,” he explained, calling it a brand new process provincially.
“There’s no major development project in Ontario which has gone through the individual EA process provincially previous to New Gold, the Rainy River Project,” he said.
“There is also no project nationally that has just concluded the CEAA 2012 federal decision that came down yesterday [Monday].
“We are the first project in Canada, in fact,” Stanfield noted. “This is a major step in terms of resource development nationally with the stricter regulatory requirements that have been placed on resource development.
“And rightly so, as we believe in responsible resource development,” he stressed.
Stanfield is thrilled the hard work on the environmental assessment has paid off.
“It’s one of the great things about our society is that when you work hard and you work together with a team, the team sees results for the benefit of all of us,” he reasoned.
“As we conclude these important milestones in the weeks ahead, we will look forward to getting construction started.”
Stanfield indicated there will be more announcements to that in the coming weeks.
“We obviously need to wait for the provincial process to conclude before we can make a formal announcement in that regard,” he explained, though adding the company is continuing to prepare for what it hopes will be a positive decision.
As previously reported, New Gold hired a general manager, Grant Goddard, as well as additional site staff, who will be responsible for various aspects, including the construction program.
“We have literally dozens and dozens of engineers and technicians working through various aspects of the project right now and making sure contractors both in the district, as well as suppliers within the district and nationally and internationally, are ready to begin shipment of equipment and begin bringing in additional heavy equipment once that step is completed,” Stanfield said.
“It’s obviously very exciting for the entire team to be able to bring the development to the next level that we’ve all been waiting for,” he enthused.
“We’re extremely close—we’ve never been closer.”
A copy of the minister’s Environment’s Environmental Assessment Decision Statement, as well as more information on this project, is available on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry website (reference number 80007).
