Snap Lake Report Accepted, Paving the Road to Final OK
October 13, 03
The Canadian Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has accepted and approved the Mackenzie Valley Environment Impact Review Board report for De Beers Snap Lake diamond mine, bringing it much nearer to a green light.
Following Minister Robert Nault’s acceptance, the next step for De Beers is getting final territorial regulatory approvals, chiefly land and water permits, and then an operating license.
Nault, who received the report during the summer, sent his approval to the board on Friday. His acceptance includes the list of 37 recommendations and suggestions designed, among other, to lessen the impact of the mine on the environment.
The list includes recommendations to compel De Beers to develop plans to protect the caribou, grizzly bears and wolverines in the area; monitor water quality and develop environmental agreements with other miners.
However the important recommendation has to do with supplying rough diamonds to local polishers, an issue that caused much debate recently when De Beers Canada President Richard Molyneux announced that the company might not do so, even though it committed to the supply during the review hearings.
The demand set by the review board is that supply of rough to local manufacturers will be made on a regular basis.