Seabridge Gold's KSM Environmental Assessment Application Receives Final Approval from British ColumbiaBy MARY KAUFFMAN
August 06, 2014
KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project After a 30-day public comment period, the Federal Minister of Environment will then decide whether to approve the KSM Project. Comments must be submitted by August 20, 2014. Seabridge expects the Federal Minster's decision in the fall. Seabridge Gold Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk said: "I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary dedication of our personnel and the outstanding professionalism of the BCEAO which together have brought us to this successful conclusion. I would also like to thank the Nisga'a Nation, First Nations and local communities who participated in this process, for their expressions of encouragement and support as well as for their thoughtful input which has helped us improve our project design. We are confident that KSM will also be approved at the Federal level within the next several months." "This decision confirms that KSM is a well-designed, environmentally responsible project which is technically feasible and offers significant economic benefits to both British Columbia and Canada. This decision also affirms the value of extensive public consultation early in the environmental assessment process which helped us to understand the cultural, social, environmental and economic context of the KSM Project. We believe the conditions imposed on the project by the Province are reasonable and we are in full agreement with them. Furthermore, we regard this approval as an expression of trust in us not only to meet the obligations mandated in this approval but also to continue to respond to the ongoing needs of members of the communities in British Columbia's northwest." According to Seabridge, the KSM Project has been undergoing a joint harmonized federal-provincial environmental assessment review as outlined by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. On July 21, 2014, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) released its final Comprehensive Study Report for the KSM Project which concluded that "the KSM Project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects taking into account implementation of the mitigation measures described in the report." Quoting the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's final Comprehensive Study Report, "the most likely potential accidents and malfunctions at the Mine Site Area were those that would result in contaminated water entering Sulphurets Creek and flowing into the Mitchell Creek/Unuk River watershed." The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council notes on their website that the site of the proposed mine is just 19 miles from the Alaska border, on Sulphurets Creek, a major tributary of the Unuk River. The Unuk flows into Behm Canal and Misty Fjords National Monument. The Unuk River is among the top salmon producing rivers in Southeast Alaska. Seabridge proposes to develop a gold, copper, silver, and molybdenum mine in the Kerr, Sulphurets and Mitchell Creek watersheds. The project is located approximately 65 km northwest of Stewart, BC. The Project is expected to have an average ore extraction rate of approximately 130,000 tonnes per day over an anticipated 52-year mine life. According to Seabridge, ore would be mined by a combination of open pit and underground mining methods from four mineral deposits: the Mitchell, Sulphurets, Kerr, and Iron Cap deposits. Waste rock storage dumps, an ore grinding circuit, water storage facility, water treatment plant, selenium treatment plant, several small hydroelectric projects, diversion tunnels, access roads, camp facilities, explosives factory and magazine, and supporting infrastructure would also be located at the Mine Site. A pair of 23 kilometer long tunnels would allow the transportation of crushed ore to a concentrator plant and tailings management facility located in the Treaty and Teigen Creek drainages of the Bell-Irving River. Electricity would be provided to the project via tunnel and transmission line which would connect to the Northwest Transmission Line, according to Seabridge. Two separate access roads, the Treaty Creek access road and the Coulter Creek access road, would provide access for the trucking of supplies to the mine and ore concentrate to Highway 37, notes Seabridge. The report has been posted on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's website for a 30-day public comment period, after which the Federal Minister of Environment will decide whether to approve the KSM Project. Seabridge expects the Federal Minster's decision in the fall. Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold resource projects. The Company's principal assets are the KSM property located near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada and the Courageous Lake gold project located in Canada's Northwest Territories.
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