https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Company ordered to comply with its permits to operate, or face penalties
The federal government says Agnico Eagle Mines is not doing what it has promised to protect migrating caribou at the Meadowbank gold mine in Nunavut.
An order issued last month by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) says the company has failed “on multiple occasions” to meet its obligations under its project certificates for the mine, and under the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act. The order requires the company to comply with its permits to operate or face potential penalties.
“[Agnico Eagle Mines] has failed to close roads as required while migrating caribou are passing,” the order, written by CIRNAC resource management officer Kyle Amsel, states. The 13-page order document details the company’s repeated failures over the last decade and a half to implement caribou protection measures at the mine site, comply with an ecological management plan, and accurately and appropriately report activities.
The federal order follows concerns raised by the Nunavut government. Last fall, the territory’s Environment department wrote to CIRNAC asking for an investigation. “This is the fourth consecutive year in which the GN has presented evidence of [Agnico Eagle’s] failure to implement the road closure provisions of the TEMP [Terrestrial Environment Management Plan],” reads a letter sent by Jimmy Noble Jr., Nunavut’s deputy minister of Environment, to regulators in October 2022.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/agnico-eagle-caribou-monitoring-violations-cirnac-1.6876469#:~:text=CBC%20News%20Loaded-,Feds%20say%20Agnico%20Eagle%20has%20failed%20to%20protect%20caribou%20at,Meadowbank%20gold%20project%20in%20Nunavut.