A local limestone quarry has crossed an official line in the sand.
For the past seven years, Graymont Western Canada Inc. has been studying, researching and consulting their way towards opening a value-added mine less than 30 kilometres northeast of Prince George. It has taken that long to cover all the environmental and social prerequisites demanded by the province's Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) before any project is even allowed to apply for consideration.
This past week, the quarry proposal graduated to what the EAO calls the Section 11 stage. Company executive Rob Beleutz said it was a positive hurdle to clear for their hopes of a mine.
"Getting to the Section 11 phase says they (EAO officials) have accepted the scope of our study, they acknowledge that we have demonstrated an understanding of what they expect of us, we have showed what ways we are engaging their agency and the public and the First Nations, they recognize and accept our methodology, and we are providing the necessary plans they need to assess our proposal," Beleutz said. "It is a monster document in the end, so when the reviewers come in, they know that everything they can think of has already been covered."
The quarry would hew limestone from a deposit near Eaglet Lake in the rural community of Giscome. It would also be the site of a processing plant, so the many products made of limestone would be manufactured at the same site.
Beleutz said limestone kiln technology had advanced significantly in recent years, allowing the Giscome quarry to use even the fine dust in merchantable products, should the mine be permitted. Since the company has reached its Section 11 stage, they now have to go to work on the corporate business plan at the same time as final environmental assessment readiness.
More public consultation is required, as well.
The general area around the proposed mine site is not densely populated but it is not uninhabited. Previously, some adjacent residents voiced concerns about the quarry but also agreed to hear the company out on how their concerns would be addressed. Beleutz said he expected all concerns raised would be satisfactorily addressed and he had enjoyed meeting the area residents.
He said the initial discussions with the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation, on whose territory the quarry sits, have been positive. He said the studies done so far on the history and archeology of the quarry site have been led by a LTFN member, and talks were expected to proceed next to topics like labour agreements and social resources for the Lheidli community.
LTFN chief Dominic Frederick was unavailable by deadline for comments on the quarry issue.
One of the main stresses for any industrial production company is transportation of their heavy equipment into the site and the bulky product off the site. There is a costly but convenient alternative for this site. A rail line was once in place almost perfectly aligned with the mine's situation.
"The spur tracks were taken out years ago, we would have to lay track again, but the rail bed is still there and seems to be in decent shape," said Beleutz. "We have already started to explore that, because it has to be approved by CN Rail. It has to meet their permits as well. That would allow us to move in the equipment and supplies instead of by road, so that's why the rail spur would be a priority project for us once all the permitting is obtained, ahead of any construction at the site."
The proposal is, as mines go, a small and less complex operation than mineral mines.
No two environmental assessment files are the same, so approval dates are difficult to estimate, but should the usual timelines apply for Section 11 proposals, Graymont hopes to break ground on quarry construction in the summer of 2015.
The mine's life is estimated by Beleutz to be more than 50 years, should it be approved.
