Inuvik (Sep 01/06) - Without an access road, officials with Canadian Zinc say their proposed mine in the Deh Cho will not survive much longer.

The company, which owns the Prairie Creek lead and zinc mine, has been trying to get a winter road to the property reopened for more than three years and is calling for reforms to the process that issues permits.

It may look like it's past retirement age, but extra years have been coaxed out of this crane through necessity at Prairie Creek mine. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"Frustrating" is the word Alan Taylor, the vice-president of exploration for Canadian Zinc, uses to describe the process.

"The access road is critical to any future production," said Taylor. "Without an access road this place is history."

On June 15, 2003, Canadian Zinc applied to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for a land use permit to re-develop an old winter road.

The 165 km route once connected the mine to the Liard highway near Lindberg's Landing.

The road was built by Cadillac Explorations Ltd., the mine's previous owner and developer, in the early 1980s but allowed to lapse in 1983 when the company went bankrupt. Canadian Zinc hopes to reopen the road, first as a winter road, to gain access to the mine site.

Access would allow for the removal of 40 tonnes of unneeded cyanide stored at the site, said Dan O'Rourke, community and northern affairs advocate for the company.

The mine also needs to bring in new equipment, said Taylor, adding much of the gear workers currently rely on has been there since the ‘80s and requires a lot of time in the shop.

Diesel fuel is also a problem with only about 1.1 million litres remaining in storage tanks able to hold about four times that much.

Prairie Creek will run out of fuel by next August, but it will cost too much to fly more in, said O'Rourke.

By the end of this year's mining season Taylor estimates Canadian Zinc will have spent close to $500,000 on the airplanes - almost a quarter of the price of a winter road, said Taylor.

Both Taylor and O'Rourke are calling for changes in the permitting process. They're not complaining about the structure of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board or its legislation, said Taylor, the problem rests in how the legislation is applied.

"It doesn't work," Taylor said.

The land use permit for the Canadian Zinc winter road has been an unusual case, said Bob Wooley, executive director of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

"In this case there is no question it has taken an inordinate amount of time," Wooley said.

The delay is the result of an objection raised by the Nahanni Butte Dene Band which said the road will interfered with its aboriginal and treaty rights and that residents hadn't been properly consulted.

The case was referred to Indian and Northern Affairs (INAC) last October and has not been dealt with yet, said Wooley.

On the whole, the permitting process has been working in a timely manner, said Wooley.

The board has been fairly consistent in meeting timelines laid out in the legislation, he said.

According to the legislation, the board has 42 days to either make a decision on a land use permit, ask for additional information or refer the application to environmental assessment.

"I think we are meeting most of our legislative timelines," said Wooley.

A meeting between INAC officials and the Nahanni Butte Dene Band has been set for today, to discuss the road permit, said Annette Hopkins, the director of operations with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Unexpected illnesses delayed the consultation process until March of this year, she said, adding the department and band have been trying to agree to a meeting date since then.

INAC hasn't conducted many of these procedures and there are many guidelines to follow, said Hopkins.

"We are trying to feel our way through," she said.

Following the meeting it could take one to two weeks to review the information, Hopkins said.

But if the process doesn't move quickly it might be too late for Canadian Zinc, said company officials.

The permit is needed so the company can build the road in time and even October may be too late, said Taylor.