LAC LA MARTRE/WHATI - The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories heard closing arguments Tuesday from lawyers representing the Tlicho Government and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board regarding Fortune Mineral's NICO mine environmental assessment.

At issue is whether the environmental assessment process for the gold-cobalt-bismuth mine near Whati should be allowed to continue, even though it includes an access road over Tlicho land which was not included in the original agreement.

In September 2010 the government filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to overturn the review board's decision to continue with the environmental assessment, a decision that was made over objections from the government.

"We are not opposed to development of the mine itself. We just don't want to do this blindly and want to ensure that the environment is not compromised," said John B. Zoe, senior advisor for the Tlicho government.

The Tlicho government is arguing that the road is hypothetical and since it was not included in the initial agreement and would cross Tlicho land, it should not be included in the environmental assessment.

"We took it to the Supreme Court to say the board exceeded its jurisdiction by including the access road in the environmental assessment," said Zoe.

Zoe also raised concerns of the precedent that would be set if the assessment process were allowed to proceed, with the road.

"I think it sets a tone for the larger picture and that this would lead to streamlining in the North," said Zoe. "Some things could be rushed, some things could be overlooked. So we really want to make sure it is done right and everybody has their ducks in a row."

"I guess an important thing to understand here is that what we have here is a claim block surrounded by Tlicho land, and no application was made for that land in the claim block," said Zoe. "What we have now is a winter road, and if there is an industrial, all-weather road, it will have social implications and implications on the land, the caribou, archeological sites, the impact of opening new lands to the public - all these things."

Counsel for the review board argued in court Tuesday that since a road would be needed for operation of the mine, that it was within the board's discretion to scope up and include the road in the environmental assessment, since it is something that would have to be studied anyway.

To make the point, they cited the Mackenzie Gas Project, saying that if an individual assessment needed to be made for each new facility related to the project, then hundreds of environmental assessments would have to be conducted.

They also showed maps that detail a corridor where the road would likely run, and argued that all environmental assessments inherently deal with hypothetical situations.

Both the Tlicho government and the review board are tight-lipped about whether they are optimistic that the court will rule in their favour, but Zoe did say "we wouldn't have brought it before the court if we were not optimistic.

The court is expected to take several months before making a decision in the case.

News/North attempted to contact Fortune Minerals and the review board, but nobody was available to speak before press time.

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