Two Thunder Bay companies, Benton Resources and Nordmin Engineering, joint-venturing on a Newfoundland gold project, have advanced it to the federal environmental assessment (EA) stage.
In a Feb. 22 news release, Benton said the federal EA process on the Cape Ray project is progressing and a project description was recently submitted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) for review and public comment.
A decision on whether a federal EA would be required is anticipated within 45 days. Benton said baseline environmental studies are being planned to start in the spring and will continue through the fall.
The Cape Ray Gold Project located in southwestern Newfoundland, 20 kilometres northeast of Port aux Basques.
Nordmin is earning up to a 50 per cent interest in four of the Cape Ray deposits owned by Benton by completing various work programs and project milestones as well as carrying Benton to a full feasibility study and arranging for half of the project financing to production.
Last June, a project description report was submitted to the provincial government and was immediately accepted.
This month, the two companies released the results of updated positive preliminary economic assessment for Cape Ray.
"Support for this project has been overwhelming from the local municipality, the provincial regulatory authorities and other stakeholders,” said Nordmin’s director of environmental services, Giovanni (John) Sferrazza, Director of Environmental Services, in a statement. “Wherever our staff travels in the local communities, be it the local hardware store, hotels, or restaurants, many citizens have approached us and voiced strong support for our project.
"This project will also bring much needed economic benefits to this region of the province; our project team is fully aware of our corporate social responsibility and is absolutely committed to ensuring that this project is conceived and developed from the base principle that we will absolutely minimize any impact to the environment. We have had that as a cornerstone of our efforts to date and will continue in that commitment right into operations and closure.”
