The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is launching its environmental assessment for the proposed Cliffs Resources chromite project.
The City of Greater Sudbury is making a significant effort to encourage Cliffs to set up its ferrochrome production facility within the area.
CEAA has prepared guidelines that identify potential environmental effects to be addressed and information that needs to be included in Cliff's environmental impact statement, and the public is invited to make comment on those guidelines. Comments will be reviewed and considered before the document is finalized and issued to Cliffs. All comments received by November 16, 2011 will be considered. This is the first of several public comment periods that will occur during the environmental assessment of the project.
The chromite project consists of constructing, operating and eventually decommissioning an open pit/underground chromite ore mine (with a 30-year mine life at a predicted extraction rate of 6,000 to 12,000 tons per day) and an ore processing facility.
The proposal also includes an integrated transportation system consisting of a new north-south all-season road corridor and a new ferrochrome production facility, which would be located at a different location than the mine site.
The draft EIS Guidelines and more information on this project are available on the Agency’s website at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca (Registry reference number 11-03-63927). The document is available in paper copy by request as well.
The purpose of an environmental assessment is to ensure that projects are considered in a careful and precautionary manner in order to avoid or mitigate the possible adverse effects of development on the environment. Furthermore, through the environmental assessment, Cliffs must ensure that it engages with Aboriginal people that may be affected by the project and that have asserted or established Aboriginal or treaty rights.
The Agency is also making available $40,000 under its Participant Funding Program to assist groups and individuals to participate in the federal environmental assessment of this project. Funding applications received by Nov. 16 will be considered.
This project is also subject to the environmental assessment requirements of the province of Ontario. Canada and Ontario are co-ordinating the respective environmental assessment processes for the proposed project.
Posted by Mark Gentili
