(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - In a moment of unanimity from Kamloops city council on the proposed Ajax Mine, an extra council meeting is now planned once the mine’s application restarts.

Now two public meetings will take place once the application restarts to help council decide on the much debated mine project. One meeting will be for councillors to receive a presentation from consultants SLR Consulting on the mine, the other scheduled for week later, will be to discuss the issue.

The intervening week will be for councillors to digest the information and hear from the public. The presentation will be webcast for the public to view along with council.

However, while the meetings are roughly planned out, no dates have been set. Because the environmental assessment is currently paused at day 108, the meetings have to be planned from that day. However, no word on when the restart will happen means the date of day 109 is unknown.

Therefore, the first meeting with the report from SLR is planned for somewhere between day 121 to 125 of the process so the consultant can review the finished application and create a presentation.

Between day 128 to 132, council will hold a special meeting to prepare a decision and comments to submit to the provincial and federal environmental assessment offices. City staff will prepare letters in advance of the meeting to provide a framework depending on councils decision.

The decision and comments will be submitted by day 135, the date set by the assessment offices for the city’s input.

Adding an extra meeting stemmed from a motion from Coun. Denis Walsh brought forward for two extra meetings.

The application was submitted Jan. 19, 2016 and granted a temporary suspension May 4. Early estimates suggested the process would restart in October. In a letter to council in October, project manager Chris Wild wrote all information required by the assessment offices would be submitted by the end of 2016.

For more on the proposed Ajax mine, click here.

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