Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Scoping sessions by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board took place last week across the Deh Cho region to hear concerns from residents about the opening of the Prairie Creek Mine by Canadian Zinc Corporation.

The board put on day-long sessions in Wrigley, Nahanni Butte, Fort Liard and Fort Simpson, communities the board specified as areas with a possibility of being affected by the opening of the mine.

Alistair MacDonald, the environmental assessment officer on the Prairie Creek mine file for the board, said the sessions went well and citizens and organizations had the opportunity to voice their concerns.

"It gave the chance for people to ask questions and make their issues and concerns heard to the developer," he said.

MacDonald said the people of the Deh Cho region and Canadian Zinc carry similar concerns about the effects that the mine will have on the environment.

"The number one issue is protecting the water quality in Prairie Creek and water downstream," he said.

"People will be able to comment on the developer's current water monitoring system and say whether or not the monitoring is adequate enough."

Fort Simpson Mayor Duncan Canvin said he felt the board was hell-bent on reviewing every little detail and didn't see the necessity in having these sessions.

He said it would have been better to just go ahead with the environmental assessment.

"They try to identify how in-depth it was going to go and it didn't seem to matter what we had to say," he said.

"They'd already made up their mind on things."

Wilbert Antoine, manager of northern development for Canadian Zinc, said although he was working for the mining industry his first concern was to make sure the environment is taken care of.

"I made it clear to them when I started in this position that it was my first priority to take care of the land and make sure the Deh Cho doesn't suffer from their development project," he said.

Antoine, who has worked in mining for more than 35 years, said he has seen the industry grow and evolve with time.

He said since Canadian Zinc is the first big player in the Deh Cho region, it's important for them to set the standards high for mining in the region.

"We want to come in and do things right and make sure we take care of the area we are working in," Antoine said.

MacDonald said one thing he did notice during the scoping sessions was the socio-economic interest of the communities.

"People were interested to know how they were going to be able to take advantage of employment and business opportunity from the development," he said.

Canvin said he just wants things to move along so the village can start seeing the benefits of the 220 new jobs coming from the opening of the mine and the possible growth in population and economy.

"The village itself stands to gain a significant number of residents and grow a little bit," he said.

"I don't think they should be given a carte blanche to run amok but they've taken a lot of steps on their own to get this far. By now we should have this figured out and ready to go. The process is taking too long."

MacDonald said a timeline for the environmental assessment has yet to be established.

Organizations, citizens and Canadian Zinc have until Oct. 14 to submit any information they feel would be beneficial in the board's decision-making.

He also said if the board feels there is information lacking, it would ask Canadian Zinc to go forward with a developer assessment report to fill in some of the gaps.

"After we get all the information we need then a timeline will be set for the assessment," he said.