Yukon environmental assessors give Carmacks mine green light
The Yukon's environmental assessors have recommended that a proposed copper mine near Carmacks go ahead, but with 148 conditions aimed at ensuring the mine operates safely.
In a 300-page report released late Friday, the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board said Western Copper Corp.'s proposed mine can operate and be shut down safely, with little adverse environmental impact, if it is closely monitored.
The report is a major step not only for the Vancouver-based company, but also for the Yukon assessment board: It was the first on a full-fledged mine proposal in the board's history.
"The assessment of this project, the Carmacks Copper project, it's been a major undertaking for our board," executive committee member Stephen Mills said Monday.
Authorities with Environment Canada and the Yukon government have 60 days to approve, reject or amend the assessment board's recommendations.
The open-pit copper mine, to be located 38 kilometres northwest of Carmacks, is expected to employ about 100 people and produce 14,000 tonnes of pure copper cathode a year over its seven-year lifespan.
Concerns over toxic mine byproducts
Critics of the proposal, including the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation and the Yukon Conservation Society, fear the toxic byproducts from the mine's proposed acid heap leach cannot be safely neutralized, possibly contaminating the Yukon River ecosystem when the mine is eventually decommissioned.
But Mills said if the Yukon government seeks a security deposit of at least $22 million from the company, it will ensure there is enough money for the mine to be decommissioned safely.
"Any mining that takes place must be carefully planned, and the money and resources for reclamation and closure have to be realistic and paid for up-front," he said.
Officials with the Yukon Conservation Society say they need time to study the board's findings.
"This is a 300-page report, so clearly YCS will have to take a very careful look at it," society executive director Karen Baltgailis said.
"The potential environmental repercussions of these recommendations are pretty serious, so definitely we'll be spending the time and the due diligence to really get a sense of what is being recommended."
Recommendations reasonable, company says
Claire Derome, Western Copper's newly appointed vice-president of government and community relations, said in Whitehorse the board's recommendations seem reasonable.
"They are from our first evaluation all feasible and doable, so I don't see anything on the first read that could prevent the company [from] moving ahead," Derome said Monday.
Derome said the company still has to obtain some permits and financing before it decides whether to go into production.
"I don't think at this time we can say there's a production decision that has been taken. That can only be done when the permits are in place, and you know exactly what you will be facing," she said.
"The company also needs to put the financing in place, and that's another step that needs to happen. Then we will be in a position to proceed to construction and the development of the project."
A two-year construction period is expected to cost Western Copper about $150 million.