Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 13/99) - Like a duck on a wave, the deadline for a decision on the Diavik environmental review is being pushed around by the tide of events surrounding it.

At the end of July, before environment minister Christine Stewart was replaced by David Anderson, the decision was due within weeks.

On Tuesday, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency official Bruce Young said a decision is anticipated sometime between early and mid-September.

That was news to Diavik -- "we had expected to have a decision this month," said company spokesman Tom Hoefer.

Young said there was a good response to the request for public comments.

"There's no formal timeline," said Young. "But we've had very extensive comments, including several reports of more than 200 pages, so it's going to take some time."

The comments are now being circulated to relevant government agencies for responses.

During the review process Diavik maintained it needed a decision by June or early July to organize for the coming winter road season, but this week, Hoefer said using the road this winter is "still doable" with the current decision date.

The company has begun tendering contracts for the many tasks associated with building the mine. The contracts, said Hoefer, contain a cancellation clause to protect the company in case it does not receive the necessary approvals in time to use the winter road.

"We're moving ahead on the understanding we will have the permitting and licensing to do that work," said Hoefer.

To take advantage of the cheaper transport the winter road affords, the minimum Diavik will need to proceed is a surface lease to give it a place to put materials and equipment. The longer term claim to the land also provides a greater level of certainty to the project, something important to arranging construction financing.

Exploration was conducted under a land use permit, a far more restrictive document in terms of time and operation.

Diavik applied for a surface lease in March 1998, when the environmental review began. The project requires environmental approval before a surface lease can be granted.

"It's not something that would happen immediately," said DIAND director of northern operations, Floyd Adlem, when asked how soon after environmental approval -- if the project is approved -- a surface lease would be granted.

Adlem estimated it would take "a couple of months" to work out the details of a lease, but added the process is "not carved in stone."

The lease would be negotiated between Diavik and the federal government and have to adhere to the terms of the environmental approval.