QUÉBEC, March 5, 2019 / CNW Telbec / - The Minister of the...

QUÉBEC, March 5, 2019 / CNW Telbec / - The Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Mr. Benoit Charette, announces that the Authier Lithium mining project of Sayona Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue presented in the application authorization filed by the company on December 20, 2018, is subject to the environmental impact assessment and review procedure leading to the BAPE.

The minister said today that the results of the analytical work done by the staff of his department allow him to confirm this subjugation. According to the documents submitted by the company as part of its application for authorization, the mining project will have a daily maximum extraction capacity exceeding the threshold of 2,000 metric tons according to the criteria established by the Regulation on assessment and review of the environmental impacts of certain projects.

As such, this project will have to be the subject of a public consultation on its issues, a proponent's impact study, and a public information period conducted by the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur le (BAPE) and a departmental environmental scan.

Quote:

"The environmental impact assessment and review procedure, which includes a public information and consultation stage led by the BAPE, will allow the public to express themselves and get information. Ultimately, the proponent will be able to present the environmental protection measures likely to ensure the acceptability of its project both socially and environmentally as well as economically. "

Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change

Highlights:

Recall that the Australian company Sayona Quebec inc. wishes to exploit the Authier deposit located in the municipality of La Motte, 45 kilometers northwest of Val-d'Or, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Lithium ore would be mined open-pit for 18 years. The company plans to build a concentrator and two piles to store waste rock and filtered tailings. The spodumene concentrate would be shipped to a third party for refining.

It is the Environmental Impact Assessment and Review Regulation for certain projects that sets the extraction threshold at which a project is subject to the impact assessment and review procedure. the environment.