Another round of public consultations will be coming this month for Foran Mining and its McIlvenna Bay project.
As part of the provincial approval process to move the mine project along, Foran Mining will be hosting four community consultation sessions, releasing its latest safety plan and environmental impact statement (EIS) and requesting public comment.
“McIlvenna Bay Operating Ltd., a subsidiary of Foran Mining Corporation, is proposing an underground metal mine and surface mineral processing facility 65 kilometres west-southwest of Creighton,” reads the announcement for the latest sessions.
“The public is invited to provide comments on the EIS and technical review comments, which incorporate the requirements of the provincial environmental assessment process and identifies the key issues and studies addressed in the EIS. Traditional knowledge and local information on the potential impact of this proposed project is welcomed and valued.”
Binders showing the company’s plans to develop and mine at the site are available at community offices in Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach. The latest environmental assessments for the mine project are accessible on the Saskatchewan government’s website at www.saskatchewan.ca/environmentalassessment.
The public consultation will include four meetings later this month, starting June 26 at the Senator Pierre Settee Memorial Hall in Cumberland House. The group will then go to Creighton June 27 for another meeting at the Creighton Community Hall, followed by meetings June 28 in Pelican Narrows at the community hall and June 29 in Deschambault Lake at the Kimosom Pwatinahk Collegiate gym. All consultation sessions will take place from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. local time.
Similar sessions were held at several communities in January, including in Creighton.
Foran is currently planning to open a mine at McIlvenna Bay at Hanson Lake and has conducted testing at the site for years. The company has announced intentions to open the McIlvenna Bay mine site to production and to make it the world’s first carbon-neutral copper mine - the company has acquired electric vehicles to be used underground once operations begin. New to the company’s plans is a proposal to transport metal ore concentrate from the mine site to Flin Flon by road, where it will be shipped out for smelting by rail.
The company has received funding through a wide variety of sources, including from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
