Cliffs to complete environmental assessment early next year.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: MINING

Cliffs Natural Resources expects the environmental assessment (EA) for its ferrochrome processing facility in Capreol to be complete and submitted for government review by the first half of 2013, with approval coming by mid2014.

The company, which is planning to develop its Black Thor chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire area of the James Bay lowlands, outlined the current stage of the EA process during a media briefing and public open house in Capreol on Oct. 25. The session was designed to provide an update on the EA process and glean input from residents.

Jason Aagenes, Cliffs' director of environmental affairs for ferroalloys, said all four components of the project--the mine, concentrator, transportation corridor and ferrochrome processing facility--are being subject to the combined provincial and federal environmental assessment, which is moving forward as an integrated process.

"The purpose of the environmental assessment is to take a look at the existing environment--and we've been conducting baseline monitoring for a couple of years now--then take a look at the project as it's designed and you estimate any impacts on the existing environment," Aagenes said.

The EA studies impacts to the human element, including First Nations land use health and safety, and socioeconomic factors; the physical element (land, air, water); and the biological element (fish, wildlife, vegetation, insect life).

The project will then be redesigned to eliminate, mitigate or otherwise reduce any anticipated negative impacts, Aagenes added. A number of the project's components are still being determined, including the mine site layout, a water source, a method for discharge of treated affluent, and mine closure and decommissioning.

Though early in the EA process, Aagenes said Cliffs has been consulting with federal and provincial agencies for more than two years to develop this amalgamated approach. Cliffs volunteered to undergo the most rigorous type of provincial EA, an individual assessment, even though it wasn't required, he said.

"It's consistent with our interest in having a robust environmental assessment--everything is adequately covered--but it also matches up very well with the federal comprehensive study," Aagenes said. "The two of these processes match together very well, so it lent itself to an integrated approach."

Designed for a 30-year life span, the single...