Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Bromley on February 26, 2013, regarding the location of Highway 4 realignment over underground arsenic storage chamber.

In his first question, Mr. Bromley asked what the purpose of the highway realignment was and what issues or concerns the highway is being realigned to address.

The section of Highway No. 4 that has been scheduled for realignment has needed to be changed for safety reasons that predate and are separate to the closure of Giant Mine. Between kilometre 2 and kilometre 5.2, the highway is being aligned for safety reasons to address issues of sharp curves with limited visibility, steep roadway slopes, and narrow shoulders for cyclists and pedestrians.

The highway near kilometre 4 is being realigned to accommodate the surface infrastructure for freezing the underground arsenic storage vaults related to Giant Mine. The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) continue to coordinate activities to ensure that any realignment has minimal impact on the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP).

In his second question, Mr. Bromley asked how the road alignment route was chosen so as not to interfere with the remediation project and to avoid damage to underlying arsenic storage chambers.

The GNWT Department of Transportation and the GMRP team have worked close to ensure that any realignment options would not impact on the remediation activities and, if possible, would complement the remediation goals. Given the surface and underground workings of the mine site, however, it is almost impossible to avoid all constraint areas. Constraint areas include open pit areas, tailing ponds, mine shafts and adits, proposed underground arsenic storage vaults, areas for surface freezing infrastructure, and proximity or depth of crown pillars for underground stopes and travel ways. The GNWT has undertaken assessments of the risks and has provided AANDC with the results of the assessments. Using this information, AANDC approved the establishment of the highway corridor in its present location.

In his final question, Mr. Bromley asked how the safety of routing the highway over the underground arsenic chamber labeled Reach 6 is assured.

GNWT and AANDC have worked on identifying potential constraint areas during the highway realignment process for the past three years, and the realignment was selected based on the most suitable alignment that would avoid as many of the constraint areas as possible, which included the rock and geotechnical assessment of the crown pillar over the UBC stope. AANDC has approved the highway corridor through the Giant Mine lease as proposed and under construction. The GNWT is not aware of any further constraint areas or areas where the alignment crosses over top existing or potential arsenic storage vaults that have any

potential safety issues. It should be noted that the existing highway currently crosses over arsenic storage vaults.