‘Mini celebration’ before lengthy review process for Grays Bay project
Nunavut Impact Review Board accepts revised impact statement for 230km road, deepwater port on Arctic coast
The review process is moving forward for the proposed Grays Bay road and port project after the Nunavut Impact Review Board accepted the proponent’s impact statement earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.)
The Grays Bay road and port project is set to begin a lengthy regulatory process now that the Nunavut Impact Review Board has accepted a revised version of its impact statement.
“We had a mini celebration but recognize that there’s a lot more work to come,” said Brendan Bell, CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp., the company behind the proposal, in an interview Monday.
The impact statement is a nearly 8,000-page document, presented in English, Inuktitut, Inuinaqtun and French.
It outlines environmental research on how the project’s 230-kilometre road and deepsea port, as well as proposed surrounding mining developments that would be made accessible by the project, could impact the territory’s economy, communities and environment.
The company’s original impact statement was rejected in March over what Bell describes as a mix of formatting issues and missing scientific information.
“We were asked to provide some summaries and put some material in front of the regulator on a number of aspects with respect to caribou, marine mammals and some other things like that,” Bell said.
The board accepted the revised impact statement on May 6 and has posted a timeline for the next steps.
They include a period starting in June for question and comment submissions; a 60-day technical review review starting in August; and meetings in the fall for Kitikmeot communities, Yellowknife and Inuvik.
Bell said he’s hoping the timeline puts the project in a place where the review board could have a recommendation ready in early 2027, with a federal decision following later that year.
For now, the timeline makes things “feel very real,” Bell said, as he and his team seek to secure funding for the project, which is expected to cost $1 billion.
“Hopefully, we’ll have some more interesting updates for you shortly.”
This smells like a billion dollar boondoggle.
A Chinese state-owned company, mining company, your taxes to build the road and port
Grays Bay will provide access to the interior of the Slave Craton. A craton is ancient, stable core of continental crust, typically over 2.5 billion years old (Archean), found on every continent.
Canada has another craton, the Superior Craton shared by Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. Over the past 200 years or so, the Superior Craton has hosted hundreds of mines.
The Kaapvaal Craton is in southern Africa and is arguably the most mineral rich area in the world, hosting again, hundreds of mines over several hundred years. The Kaapvaal is a big reason why Botswana and South Africa are relatively stable and prosperous parts of this otherwise blighted continent.
The North China Craton is (obviously) in China, and has seen thousands of mines over many, many centuries. Almost all of the Rare Earth Metals used in all modern technology from smart phones to missiles come from this Craton.
The Yilgarn Craton in Australia has also seen hundreds of mining operations, and contains over 2 dozen of the largest mineral deposits in the world.
The Dharwar Craton in India has seen mining since time immemorial, and has seen innumerable mines during the long and rich history of India.
Inuit and Dene peoples have used the area in-between Yellowknife and the coast for many, many generations and this region is rich in cultural history.
It can be reasonably assured that the Slave Craton will be as mineral rich as any other Craton in the world, and discoveries thus far have more than tended to prove this point.
No. Grays Bay is not the road to no-where.
The only way this road will become a boondoggle is if the construction and management of this infrastructure, if approved, is seriously flubbed by the owners.
A concept of a road and port into the Slave Craton is of itself a no-brainer.
A hunting we will all go !! All yr long. Gas paid, cabins made and paid for all hunters going in and out of Grays bay all the way to Jericho !
So the feds will build the road and port on their dime so the mining companies can exploit the resources. The American military will like that, critical minerals for their missiles which any president can use just because he doesn’t like a foreign government. Maybe the mining companies should prove the minerals exist before building a road on speculation.
Agree on mineral potential being high in the Slave but is it right that, as pointed out by Nunnavu. below, the road would be constructed for the benefit of a Chinese company especially after it had previously been declined when Izok was under Canadian ownership. Until ownership changes it shouldnt happen. Our resources are ours.
The endangered Dolphin union caribou herd make their yearly migration in the fall and spring right through the the road corridor , disrupting its wintering grounds and building and blasting right in the middle of it all the way south. HTO has no govern on this and also the KIA .might as well auction off the last remaining caribou tags to the highest bidders. Not to mention the musk ox and all the rest of the land bearing animals that will be affected .