One of the February information sessions held about the proposed Ajax meetings.
(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)
March 15, 2016 - 6:27 AM
KAMLOOPS - Information sessions about the proposed Ajax mine near Kamloops are coming back to the city.
The federal and provincial environment assessment offices are holding sessions today, March 15 and tomorrow, March 16 with the mine’s proponent, KGHM Ajax Mining.
The sessions will be held at the Coast Hotel in Kamloops from 2 to 8 p.m. both days. They are part of the offices’ public comment period, which runs from Jan. 26 to April 11 during which people are able to publicly comment on the proposed copper and gold mine.
The sessions will consist of booths, poster boards and information about the cooperative environmental assessment.
The City of Kamloops will also hold a community meeting about the proposed mine this week, with a special council meeting on March 18 at 6 p.m. at Thompson Rivers University. Kamloops hired an independent consultant to review the proposed mine’s impact on the city. The consultant’s initial findings will be presented to the public at the meeting and a question period will follow.
The city will wait until the consulting firm has completed their assessment of the mine before deciding on an official stance on the mine.
The assessment of the proposed mine is in its 75-day public comment period which ends in April. It's followed by a period for the federal and provincial governments to review information and opinions, after which they'll make a decision sometime this summer, though they may ask for information at that point. The federal environment minister may ask for a review panel as well, which means a panel of appointed experts would look at the impact of the mine on the region.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016