Justice John Vertes granted North American Tungsten Company a stay this week, saying the mine is making a gamble postponing a costly process.

The mine's appeal of a court order to undergo an environmental assessment is expected to be heard this March. If they lose that appeal they will have to complete the assessment before their water licence runs out next November or cease operation.

Kevin O'Reilly of Canadian Arctic Resources Committee called the company's request for a stay a stalling tactic.

"They seem to be of the opinion that spending more and more money on legal proceedings is more beneficial than getting on with doing an environmental assessment," he said.

"They're taking a risk, this really doesn't help their cause in the long run."

Mine president Udo von Doehren said the environmental assessment is unnecessary.

"We've been over and over and over the fact that this is not a new project and its been in total compliance since the '60s and we haven't done anything new from the previous owners," he said.

O'Reilly is also concerned about the cost of cleaning up the mine. Last year DIAND commissioned an independent study of the reclamation costs of the site which recommended the company put aside $34 million for mine site reclamation. The company has set aside $2.5 million. The mine recently reported that production is 33 per cent higher than expected but von Doehren wouldn't disclose how many reserves the mine contained.

CanTung Mine is 40 kilometres from Nahanni National Park Reserve.