Areva's uranium mine denied approval
Review board says lack of start date led to lack of confidence
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, May 18, 2015
QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
The French company Areva cannot proceed at this time with its proposed Kiggavik uranium project outside Baker Lake due to the company not having a firm start date, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) announced May 8.
The Nunavut Impact Review Board concluded that Areva Resources Canada's Kiggavik uranium project site about 80 kilometres west of Baker Lake should not proceed at this time due to Areva being unable to provide a definite start date. - photo courtesy of Areva Resources Canada |
"The Kiggavik Project as presented has no definite start date or development schedule. The board found that this adversely affected the weight and confidence which it could give to assessments of future ecosystemic and socio-economic effects," stated the board's chairperson, Elizabeth Copland.
That's the recommendation the board submitted to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Minister Bernard Valcourt and other responsible ministers. The decision is now in the hands of the federal government.
Areva's proposal would see one underground and four open-pit mines approximately 80 km west of Baker Lake in between two caribou calving grounds - Beverly and Qamanirjuaq - and near the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, considered the largest and most remote wildlife refuge on the North American continent.
Prior to the hearing, the company admitted it could take up to 20 years until the site is developed.
Both the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) and Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit (Makita) - a Baker Lake-based independent, non-governmental organization - are satisfied with the board's position. Areva Resources Canada is of a different mind.
"The HTO is very happy with the decision," chairperson Richard Aksawnee told Nunavut News/North.
The HTO participated as an intervener at the two-week hearing held in Baker Lake in March and on the first day called for the hearing to be suspended
"We asked that the hearing be suspended as there was a lot of uncertainty with the project start date and no protection measures in place for our wildlife," said Aksawnee.
The hearing proceeded and he says now that it "added a lot of clarity for everyone."
"Makita is overjoyed by the NIRB's decision," said spokesperson Hilu Tagoona in a news release. "In light of all the serious issues raised by interveners, and the clear majority opposition to the project expressed by the Inuit residents of Baker Lake and other Kivalliq communities during the final hearing, we agreed with the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization that the review process should have been terminated - and restarted only when the proponent could announce a start date for the project."
Tagoona added, "Future generations of Inuit will view this decision as responsible and just. If Kiggavik had been approved at this time it would have resulted in induced development that would put considerable pressure on the caribou herds on which our culture and our well-being depend."
In an e-mail to Nunavut News/North, Barry McCallum, Areva's manager of Nunavut affairs, stated the company is disappointed.
"This is not the recommendation we were hoping for," he said "We provided what we believed, and many reviewers agreed, to be a sound final environmental impact statement. The environmental and socio-economic studies and proposed mitigation measures we included in our submission are thorough."
McCallum adds the company was transparent about the current uncertainty in the uranium market, but its intention was "to obtain the project certificate based on the set of environmental conditions assessed in order to be ready to proceed with the project once market conditions are more favourable."
He says the lead times for the environmental assessment process and construction of large mining projects such as Kiggavik are quite long.
Areva has stated the Kiggavik Project Final Environmental Impact Statement, a 10,000 page document submitted prior to the hearing, took more than eight years of technical studies assessing the potential environmental, health and safety, and socio-economic effects of the project.
"The consideration of environmental effects is an ongoing process throughout the life of the mine," McCallum added.
Copland stated that the board's recommendation "that the Kiggavik Project should not proceed at this time ... does not mean that this project should not proceed at any time.
"The board intends that the Kiggavik Project may be resubmitted for consideration at such future time when increased certainty regarding the project start date can be provided, and so enable the board to make more definite and confident assessments having regard to the enduring significance of caribou, fish and marine wildlife for Nunavummiut."
With the decision now in the hands of the federal government, Makita sent a letter to the presidents of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Kivalliq Inuit Association, Cathy Towtongie and David Ningeongan, calling for their support of the NIRB decision, despite the organizations remaining neutral throughout the public hearing.
Taguna, who signed the letter, states Makita does not want the board's decision to be overturned by Valcourt.
"Given the technical flaws with Areva's proposal and the lack of public support, this proposal cannot be allowed to proceed at this time. We respectfully urge NTI and KIA to represent their beneficiaries' best interests and publicly support the NIRB's recommendation. NTI and KIA should also publicly cease all Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement negotiations with Areva.
"We also hope that, if necessary, NTI and KIA will explore all political and legal options to ensure that the NIRB's recommendation is upheld should the federal minister overrule the NIRB's recommendation."
The company is currently reviewing the board's decision document "to better understand the reasoning and the implications for project advancement," said McCallum.
"The Kiggavik site is currently an exploration site. We have scheduled a summer exploration to start in June. We have not made any decisions yet as to our next steps for this project."
