Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Back River decision postponed to 2017

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. Dec. 29 said a federal decision on its Back River gold project in Nunavut has been postponed to sometime in 2017. Late in 2015, Sabina submitted an environmental impact statement for a 3,000-metric-ton-per-day mine focused on Goose, one of the properties that comprise the larger Back River project, to the Nunavut Impact Review Board. In June, NIRB recommended that the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada not advance Back River to the next phase of permitting at this time. INAC has the option to accept or reject the NIRB report and recommendation; or send the Back River project back to the board for further recommendation. INAC had originally indicated that its decision would likely be made before the end of 2016, however, this decision now seems likely sometime early in 2017. In the meantime, Sabina continues to work with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, an Inuit development corporation that owns the land where Back River is located, and various responsible agencies to define additional measures to address uncertainties stated in the NIRB report. This work includes a two-day workshop on wildlife management and mitigation held in Yellowknife and multiple visits to communities in the Kitikmeot regions of Nunavut where Back River is located. Sabina said it continues to receive broad based Inuit support for the project. Letters written to the INAC minister on behalf of Sabina and the Project have been received from KIA, hamlet councils, hunters and trappers' organizations, community representatives, as well as the government of Nunavut have sent letters to the INAC minister in support of the Back River project. "We had hoped to receive a decision from INAC before the end of the year," said Sabina President and CEO Bruce McLeod. "We have been working diligently with all appropriate parties in the interim towards this end. However, despite these efforts it is likely that we will not receive word from the minister's office until early in 2017."

-Shane Lasley