Tungsten Mine for Tailings in Salmon Habitat at New Brunswick Has Been Approved by British Cabinet

Tungsten mine plan for tailings in salmon habitat located in New Brunswick has been approved by British Cabinet, it includes two waterways that are habitats for endangered Atlantic Salmon and other fish species in a tailings site for toxic waste.

The proponents of the mine plan have faced fierce resistance since the plan firstly laid in 2013, after up and downs, the decision of British cabinet was to bring this plan into effect, this became an important milestone for the mine project.

The mine is being developed by a company associated with a Vancouver-based resource giant, they have tungsten mine project in Alaska as well, which is also facing opposition over threats to fish habitat for Pacific salmon habitat and other species.

British government conditionally approved the New Brunswick project which called the Sisson mine project on June 22th 2017, two days after the House of Commons recessed the summer and October federal election, the cabinet passed a regulatory amendment to add two waterways to nearly 50 lakes, ponds and waterways. Federal Metals and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations list the impacts on affected places need to be mitigated and controlled.

The Sisson mine project is located 60 kilometres north of Fredericton, in the centre of the forested Nashwaak River Watershed, which leads to the Bay of Fundy. The waters that are being added to the Fisheries Act regulatory list consist of a long length of a brook and its tributaries and another separate tributary to another larger brook. All three waters are part of the start of water flow to the Nashwaak River watershed that lead to the Bay of Fundy, where is the home of a unique species of Atlantic salmon, that has been listed as an endangered species since 2003.

This project is led by Northcliffe Resources Ltd., which was established by Hunter Dickinson Inc. to develop and operate the mine. Both companies’ head office located in Vancouver, and Hunter Dickinson Inc. has established five other companies to lead other big mine projects in Canada and abroad.

One is Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., which owns pebble copper and gold mine projects in Alaska. They are considered contentious because of its threat to a watershed that includes habitat for Pacific Ocean Chinook salmon, which is a vital staple for threatened Orca whale pods along the southern B.C. coast.

A spokesperson from Environment and Climate Change of Canada said that, the Sisson mine proposal to deposit waste can go ahead under the condition of Environment Minister Catherine McKenna approves a fish habitat compensation plan, and after the company provides a valued at $954,000 letter of credit, to cover the cost of implementation of the compensation plan.

Spokesperson Veronica Petro said that, before starting the mine operations, Sisson mine will be required to meet 40 conditions of approval set by the New Brunswick environmental impact agency as well, and obtain other federal and provincial authorizations. Although the British cabinet has approved the tungsten mine project in New Brunswick, it seems that people still do not know when the project will be launched.

• < Prev
• Next >