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NUNAVUT
Areva Resources Ltd. is preparing its response to deficiencies listed on the submission of its draft environmental impact review statement this past month.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) sent Areva about 60 pages of the 10,000 pages the company submitted in its draft statement.

Areva manager of Nunavut affairs Barry McCallum, front left, has spent a lot of time discussing the Kiggavik project with elders in Baker Lake and across the Kivalliq region. - photo courtesy of Areva Resources

Barry McCallum, the company's manager of Nunavut affairs, said the quality of Areva's conformity table wasn't as good as the submission itself for the Kiggavik uranium project.

He said Areva is in the process of reviewing the material sent by NIRB, but is confident its resubmitted conformity table will address much of the deficiencies.

"We'll deal with every one of the noted deficiencies in one way or another," said McCallum.

"The conformity table tells NIRB where to go to see how we've met a guideline item and, sometimes, it wasn't that clear.

"So it simply said no when it wasn't found there.

"NIRB specifically stated the conformity table needed improvement in its letter to us."

Areva has to go through a couple of hundred items contained in the NIRB letter, and McCallum said it didn't anticipate each and every one of the deficiencies.

He said had Areva been aware of any deficiencies, it would have done something about them in advance.

"We haven't come across anything that could be described as a huge item at this point, but our people are still going through it all.

"We expected some comments at this stage and it's going to take us another run to get the information in there."

Once the draft is accepted, there will be two commenting periods, the first for information requests and the second for technical comments. The technical period is typically twice as long as the earlier commenting period, in which reviewers request additional information that will facilitate their technical review.

NIRB co-ordinates these commenting periods and the number and complexity of requests is likely to influence company response time.

The NIRB will then co-ordinate technical meetings and a pre-hearing conference on dates and at locations that are yet to be determined.

These meetings will eventually result in a pre-hearing conference report that outlines requirements to Areva for the finalization of its environmental impact statement.

After another compliance determination, technical review and final hearing, NIRB will issue a final report to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development for a decision.

McCallum said it should take Areva about a month or two to address the deficiencies.

He said the draft is a solid submission and NIRB's response is in no way a step backwards for the project.

"We'll provide some more clarification and then move forward.

"It's our intention to sort it all out this time, resubmit it and wait for NIRB to make its determination on that submission."

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