Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Braden on June 7, 2006, regarding Con and Giant mines remediation plans. Mr. Braden was requesting a status report on the Government of the Northwest Territories responsibilities and progress in finalizing the mines remediation plans.
Mr. Speaker, in regards to Con Mine, representatives from the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Municipal and Community Affairs, and Health and Social Services are actively participating on a working group established by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to review the draft closure and reclamation plan and provide recommendations on the plan to the MVLWB. Other active members on the working group include Miramar Con Mine Limited, the City of Yellowknife, several federal departments, the Chamber of Mines and the North Slave Metis Alliance.
The draft plan is comprised of eight sections, each focusing on a major component of the closure and abandonment activities. To date, the MVLWB has given conditional approval to five of the sections. The working group is waiting for submission of revisions by MCML to the three remaining sections.
Progress on finalization of the closure and reclamation plan was slowed and work on mine site cleanup stopped since winter because of the referral of Con's water licence renewal to environmental assessment by the City of Yellowknife. MCML's resources were subsequently focused to this end. On May 26, 2006, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board ruled that Con's water licence is grandfathered and, therefore, not subject to environmental assessment. The MVLWB has recently sent the licence renewal to the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for signature.
In regards to Giant Mine, the GNWT signed a cooperation agreement with INAC on March 15, 2005. The agreement establishes a partnership between the territorial and federal governments to coordinate and implement care, maintenance and reclamation activities at the Giant Mine site.
A proposed final draft closure and reclamation plan has recently been completed. ENR and MACA participated in the drafting of this plan with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, their technical consultants and the Independent Peer Review Panel. Approval to submit the draft final plan
to regulatory authorities is currently being sought from Cabinet and the federal Treasury Board. If approvals are obtained, the plan is expected to be submitted to regulatory authorities during the fall of 2006.
Closure planning and interim cleanup activities are continuing at the mine site as plan approval is sought. These activities include sediment testing and the partial realignment of Baker Creek, dismantling an older power substation, stabilization of the arsenic chambers, redesign of the mine dewatering system, removal of asbestos siding from buildings, removal of additional surface utilidor pipelines and the testing of cover systems for the tailings containment ponds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.