[Quebec Mining] Inuit engagement critical to Nunavik’s expanded mine project: KRG (Nunatsiaq News – April 28, 2017)

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Glencore hopes to extend Raglan’s life to 2040 and beyond

The mining sector might be key to the health of Nunavik’s economy, but Makivik Corp. says Glencore’s Raglan mine has yet to deliver its full potential of benefits to the region.

The Kativik Regional Government has other concerns; the KRG says it wants better communication and access to documentation from the region’s environmental and social impacts review body, which evaluates development projects in the regions.

Nunavik’s regional organizations made their comments in written briefs submitted to recent hearings into the Sivumut project, plans to expand Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine operations past 2020. The Kativik Environmental Quality Commission hosted public hearings on the proposed project in Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq between April 3 and April 6.

Glencore’s Raglan, which first went into operation in 1997, operates four mines—Katinniq, Mine 2, Kikialik and Qakimariurq—on a property 60 kilometres west of Kangiqsujuaq and about 115 southwest of Salluit.

As those operations begin to wind down, Glencore plans to expand the mine’s lifespan to 2040 and beyond with the addition of five new underground mines across Nunavik’s nickel belt.

The first phase of Glencore’s expansion would include two underground mines, called Mine 14 and Donaldson mine, which would operate roughly from 2020 to 2035.

The exploitation of three new underground mines, Mine 8, Boundary and West Boundary, could extend production from 2032 to 2040 and beyond, Glencore said in a project summary.

The Phase II and III mines would operate with much of the same infrastructure already in place on Raglan’s property, including the Katinniq complex, which houses accommodation for workers, the mine’s concentrator and sewage system, along with the 150-kilometre road network, which connects that site to the Donaldson airstrip and the mine’s port at Deception Bay.

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