Federal, territorial orgs weigh in on Meadowbank pit expansion proposal

Meadowbank’s Goose and Portage Pits are located in close proximity to the mine’s mill, office and lodging infrastructure, while Vault Pit and the proposed expansion into Phaser Lake are located 8 km northeast of the main mine site. (AEM IMAGE)

Nunavut organizations and federal agencies have weighed in on Agnico Eagle Mines’ recent proposal to expand its current pit operations at its Meadowbank mine, with some suggesting the company’s application needs more thorough review and community consultations.

This past fall, the Nunavut Impact Review Board launched a public review after Agnico Eagle proposed to expand Meadowbank’s current Vault Pit operations southwest into nearby Phaser Lake, to form Phaser Pit.

A response drafted by consultants GeoVector Inc, the Kivalliq Inuit Association — which holds the project’s production lease — says the proposal does not represent “significant change” to the project, so long as water quality monitoring continues.

A No Net Loss Plan is already in place to cover fisheries losses, approved by the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans, the KIA noted.

In the case of Phaser Lake, the plan aims to transfer as many trout and whitefish as possible to nearby Wally Lake.

Agnico Eagle would also dewater the lake’s estimated 700,000 cubic metres, and expand the lake area by roughly 16 per cent — from 25 hectares to 29 hectares.

The new Phaser Pit could go into production by 2017 and is expected to produce more than 21,000 ounces of gold.

The NIRB said the Nunavut Planning Commission has already indicated that the project as proposed would not require a new conformity determination.

But the NIRB will have to decide whether it needs to amend Meadowbank’s project certificate, which it first issued in December 2006.

The question remains if the NIRB can approve the proposed change on its own, under a section of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that gives the board the flexibility to change a project certificate if certain conditions are met.

In its own comments on the proposal, the Government of Nunavut says it does not believe those terms or conditions need to be reconsidered.

But the GN does ask for more archeological surveys of the area to identify any possible burial sites or other unidentified archeological sites around Phaser Lake.

A few federal agencies called for community consultations to determine if there is any public concern over the proposal. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada said in its response that it was “premature” to comment until a more thorough environmental and socio-economic assessment has been carried out.

Environment Canada also noted that there was likely water bird migration and nesting happening on Phaser Lake.

Pointing to incidents at diamond mine site pits in the Northwest Territories, where loons have been entangled and killed in nets, the department encouraged Agnico Eagle to take precautions.

Those could include dewatering Phaser Lake outside of high migratory and nesting periods, and also increase the visibility of nets.

Meadowbank, which was been in operation since 2009, is currently mining three open pits on its site 75 kilometres north of Baker Lake. Those include Goose Pit, Portage Pit and Vault Pit — gold bearing deposits that are expected to be mined until 2018.

In its proposal, Agnico Eagle does not say how the new pit might affect the mine or whether it will extend the mine’s operational lifespan.