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Department will sift through submissions before gold mine...

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    Department will sift through submissions before gold mine ruling

    By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
    Fri. Dec 28 - 4:47 AM

    An environmental decision on a controversial Eastern Shore gold mine development should be made by February, which is too soon for its opponents.

    "The deadline for a decision is Feb. 1," provincial Environment Department spokeswoman Jacqueline May said Thursday.

    The department has received more than 200 submissions on the proposed $70-million Touquoy surface mine and mill in Moose River Gold Mines. The mine is a project of DDV Gold Ltd., a Canadian subsidiary of Atlantic Gold NL of Australia. The submissions were in response to a 300-page focus report compiled by DDV on orders from Environment Minister Mark Parent after an initial environmental assessment of the project. The focus report was delivered to his department in November.

    Public submissions on the focus report were accepted until Christmas Eve, although Ms. May said some submissions dated Dec. 24 may still be coming in to the department and will also be considered. Ms. May said department staff have 25 days from Dec. 24 to submit a report to the minister, who has 14 days from then to make a decision on the project.

    Those timelines are too tight for mine opponents like the Eastern Shore Forest Watch, which worries about the project’s potentially harmful environmental effects.

    "We don’t feel the time for the public review was sufficient," said Barbara Markovits, co-chair of the community group, which asked for an extension of the review process but didn’t hear back from the minister.

    "The minister has the discretion to do that," she said in an interview Thursday, noting staff will be rushed through Christmas and New Year’s to submit their report on time. "It’s not a realistic way to make an important decision," she said, adding the public wasn’t given enough time to wade through the DDV focus report, which she said was 1,100 pages long, including appendices. "It’s not in the best interest of the community or the province."

    Those concerns were reiterated Thursday by Green party leader and Central Nova candidate Elizabeth May, who blasted the review process as "inherently unfair" and called for a federal review of the project under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The party’s submission on DDV’s focus report, which Ms. May prepared, said it contained "serious modelling flaws" and included sections that were "scientifically illiterate."

    Atlantic Gold and DDV Gold chairman Ron Hawkes said Thursday that DDV has done "at least" everything that was required of it. "We’ve attempted to answer every question that people asked," he said, adding that DDV, which estimates it will employ 125 people once the mine is operational, is complying with government timelines.

    Mr. Hawkes said he is hopeful the project, which is still subject to other permit requirements, will get the green light from the department. "I think we’ve got a very clean project," he said, noting that DDV needs a decision in order to move forward on financing and equipment procurement. Ms. May of the Environment Department said the minister’s decision not to extend the review process was based on fairness, since those timelines are legislated.

    ( [email protected])

    http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1000480.html

 
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