Last Updated: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
9:55 AM CT
3CBC News
Plans for uranium exploration have ground to a halt at a Nunavut property held by Uravan Minerals Inc.
Federal officials ordered Uravan to clean up a cache of materials from a mining camp site for which it did not have the proper land use permits.
The site in question is at Sand Lake, on Uravan's sprawling Garry Lake uranium exploration property, located 245 kilometres northwest of Baker Lake in Nunavut's Kivalliq region.
Not only did the company not have a permit to work on the Sand Lake site specifically, but the entire Garry Lake uranium property lies within the calving grounds of the Beverly caribou herd.
"One of our geologists was doing an inspection in the area and noticed that there was a bit of construction material, fuel drums, I believe a diamond drill as well," Bernie MacIsaac, Nunavut director of operations with the federal Indian and Northern Affairs Department, told CBC News.
Fuel spill found
A federal water licence inspector also visited Sand Lake in August and found about 1,000 litres of fuel had leaked onto the ground. Garbage was also found on at the site, according to a letter sent from the inspector to Uravan.
"That was one of the reasons why we issued that direction … because it was a threat to the environment," MacIsaac said of the discovered fuel spill.
But the Nunavut Impact Review Board recommended that Uravan complete an environmental impact statement for their exploration work.
Little support
Having to complete an environmental impact statement is unusual and costly to the company involved, but concerns were raised about the impact of Uravan's work on caribou in the area.
As a result, the land-use permits that Uravan needed could not be approved until they met the Nunavut Impact Review Board's requirements.
But Uravan may be pulling out of its Garry Lake project altogether: Lahusen said there has been little support for it, and the company's desire is to withdraw and focus elsewhere.
Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/01/12/uravan-sand-lake.html
