IDM’s Red Mountain gold project gets provincial approval

According to Mining News Pro -Canada’s IDM Mining (TSX-V:IDM), one of the several companies developing projects in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle, was granted a provincial environmental assessment certificate for its Red Mountain project.

The proposed a 147.2-hectare underground gold and silver mine is located approximately 18 kilometres northeast of the District of Stewart in the Nass Wildlife Area and it is expected to produce 1,000 tonnes of ore per day, with a net annual production of 365,000 tonnes per year, during the forecast six-year of operational mine life.

In a media statement, B.C.’s ministers of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, said that their respective offices approved the plan after taking into consideration the Environmental Assessment Office’s Assessment Report and its recommendation to issue a certificate.

“The ministers are confident that the project will be constructed, operated and closed in a way that ensures no significant adverse effects are likely to occur,” the media brief reads.

The certificate, however, outlines 38 legally-binding conditions that were developed following consultation with Indigenous groups, government agencies, communities and the public, and that IDM must meet in order to proceed with its plan and maintain its permit.

Among those requirements, the ministers emphasized how important it is to pay attention to those that address the potential social effects within the community of Stewart as a result of a sudden and substantial increase in population due to Red Mountain. This, taking into account that construction of the new mine is to create 103 direct full-time equivalent local jobs for the 18 months that construction is expected to last.

The company is also being asked to develop a human-health monitoring and management plan to check for, mitigate and notify of contaminants of potential concern in the environment and in foods that are harvested in the wild; develop a social effects management plan and a wildlife management plan; conduct monitoring of mountain goat populations and mitigate potential impacts; develop an aquatic effects monitoring plan; and consult with the Nisga’a Nation on the implementation of the requirements of the certificate for all phases of the project and during any care and maintenance periods.

Even though the Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency conducted a coordinated assessment of the project, IDM now has to wait for a final federal decision regarding Red Mountain, which is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.