Goldcorp re-submits rejected application to build Yukon mine
Project manager believes company has done everything it can to ensure application makes it through process
Mining giant Goldcorp has re-submitted its massive application for environmental permitting to build a gold mine 130 kilometres south of Dawson City, Yukon.
The original proposal was filed last March and rejected by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) a few months later.
YESAB found the application inadequate because Goldcorp had not properly consulted four potentially affected First Nations.
The re-submitted application — a document of more than 20,000 pages — says that since then, the company has been meeting with the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, Selkirk, Na-Cho Nyak Dun and White River First Nations.
The talks and technical meetings went well, said Buddy Crill, Goldcorp's project manager for the Coffee Gold mine.
"It's very important that we all share our views and opinions and facts, and everything completely openly and transparently. And to the degree that there are issues, we just have to work through those issues," he said.
YESAB has until around the end of February to decide whether the new application is adequate. The actual environmental review of the project could take another year or more.
Crill said the company still hopes to begin producing gold in 2021.
"We think we've done everything we can to set ourselves up for success in the assessment process," he said.
"Now we just have to follow the process, and it ultimately it comes back to what kind of feedback is received through the process and the answers."
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