Mining association has buyer’s remorse over Bill C-69 – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – August 20, 2020)

https://biv.com/

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), which bought into the Trudeau government’s plan to improve the federal environmental review process though Bill C-69, appears to be having some buyer’s remorse.

And it warns that this week’s decision by federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson to subject the Castle metallurgical coal project in B.C. to a federal review may send a cold shiver up the collective spine of the mining sector in Canada, as well as international investors.

Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.B) wants to extend the life of its Fording River coal mine by stripping nearby Castle Mountain for metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel.

The project, considered an expansion of an existing mine, is subject to a provincial environmental review through the BC Environmental Assessment Act.

Given that it is an expansion of an existing, permitted mine, not a new one, no one in the industry thought that the federal government would decide to subject it to the additional layer of a federal review under the new Impact Assessment Act (IAA).

For the rest of this article: https://biv.com/article/2020/08/mining-association-has-buyers-remorse-over-bill-c-69