Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has set aside a lower court ruling and confirmed a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris copper-gold project east of the Alaska Panhandle in Northwest British Columbia, according to project owner Imperial Metals Corp.
In September 2007, the Federal Court Trial Division of Canada ruled in favor of an application by MiningWatch Canada for judicial review of a federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris project completed under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The lower court also set aside a federal screening report for the mine project issued in May 2006.
Imperial appealed the lower court ruling and was supported by federal government ministries. At issue was the nature of the discretion of the responsible federal authorities to scope a project under Canadian law.
The Federal Court of Appeal concluded that Canada’s federal officials have discretion to define and redefine the scope of a project for the purposes of tracking an environmental assessment.
Calling the ruling a disappointment, MiningWatch said the approach the federal appeals court took on the issue is appalling.
The group also claimed that the project would leave 183 million metric tons of tailings and 307 million metric tons of waste rock, and that acid drainage from the mine would likely require treatment for at least 200 years.
