R. Brent Murphy is senior vice president for environmental affairs at Seabridge Gold.
Having spent my entire career at the intersection of mining and sustainability, I have grown accustomed to the widespread misinformation surrounding our industry. Unfortunately, it’s a reality my colleagues and I face daily on a global scale, and if we responded to every instance, we would have little time left for the work that truly matters.
However, the sheer level of inaccuracy and hypocrisy regarding the Substantially Started Determination, or SSD, status for our proposed KSM project in Brian Lynch’s recent commentary demands a response. First and foremost, Lynch’s commentary failed to acknowledge several key facts regarding our two decades of dedicated efforts and nearly CAD $1 billion of investments to responsibly advance the KSM Project.
The British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office determines three key factors while considering grating the SSD status to a project — whether work has begun on the project components authorized within the Certified Project Description, the amount spent on the project construction activities and the support of our First Nations partners. In each category, the KSM project has met or exceeded EAO’s criteria.
For the rest of this column: https://www.adn.com/opinions/2024/09/23/opinion-canadas-mine-decision-was-no-rubber-stamp/