Century Global Commodities Corporation said that its subsidiary Joyce Direct Iron Inc (JDI) was issued a letter by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Newfoundland and Labrador, saying that a provincial Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required for its Joyce DSO Iron Ore project.
The Hong Kong-based company said JDI will be issued guidelines for completing the provincial EIS within 120 days of the date of the letter.
The Minister’s letter followed a review of the project’s provincial re-registration document by an interdepartmental environmental assessment screening committee and was also subject to public comments. The company said that the provincial re-registration document was identical to the federal EIS submitted concurrently to the ongoing federal environmental assessment process.
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The resource exploration company said that the re-registration document submitted to the Ministry on May 27, 2021, was created to comply with both provincial and federal guidelines issued in 2013. The provincial re-registration was necessary as, under provincial legislation, the 2013 project registration had expired.
Century Global said that JDI expects to receive guidelines from the Minister on March 3, 2022. After that, the company will commence preparing the provincial EIS in accordance with the guidelines, including determining whether the collection of additional data to complete the provincial EIS is necessary.
The company noted that the federal environmental assessment process is expected to continue as previously planned following the submission of the federal EIS on May 27, 2021.
While the federal and provincial EIS’s and associated environmental assessment processes are separate and governed by independent legislation, JDI said it will continue to examine opportunities to combine the EIS documents into a single EIS, if it proves advantageous to facilitate earlier completion of the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes.
The federal environmental assessment process, including submission of the federal EIS, is proceeding under Canadian Environmental Assessment Act federal legislation from 2012.
JDI said that it expects to complete both the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes over the next two to three years. Following that, JDI anticipates full production could be achieved approximately 18 months following commencement of construction.
During this timeframe for the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes, JDI plans to negotiate impact and benefit agreements for the development of the Joyce Lake Project with up to five Indigenous Groups.
Contact Ritika at ritika@proactiveinvestors.com