They were so close.
That’s the message from Brian Sullivan, CEO of Conuma, with Quintette still not having it’s full mine permit now that it’s October.
Since September 5 of last year, the mine has been working in the Little Windy Pit on a temporary permit as the permits for its full restart have been wending their way through government bureaucracy.
“We’ve been expecting the full restart permit for Quintette since early in the summer,” says Sullivan. “We’ve been working very closely with local First Nations who have been exceptionally helpful in getting to terms for environmental and wildlife protection that are acceptable to the nations and achievable by Conuma. We have been working very hard for more than a year on issues of wildlife and water in partnership with the nations.”
By the start of September, says Sullivan, the full restart permit was imminent. Then, he says, the Public Employees Union went on strike September 2. “They went tools down,” says Sullivan. “We have been advised by both the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals and BC Environment that the technical people that are required for each of those ministries to issue the full permit have not been working.”
But because they were so close, their current permit has been extended to allow the mine to start moving into Big Windy Pit. “I am proud that my Ministry staff were able to work creatively with Conuma to ensure that the full re-opening permit continues forward without disrupting work for any of the hundreds of hard-working people at the Quintette mine,” says Jagrup Brar, Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals.
“They have a limited number of managers and statutory decision makers that are still working through the labour action. Minister Barr and others recognized the importance of not having this labour activity impact the schedule of Quintette. So several of the statutory decision makers issued an extension, increasing the amount of activity that we can undertake at Quintette and that will hopefully allow us to keep mining without the threat of running out of things to do while the public employees union is on strike. It added runway to the permit that we already had for a Little Windy.”
Indeed, says Sullivan, the permit extension reflects “most of what we expect to see at the full restart permit. We are very appreciative of the fact that those statutory decision makers worked collaboratively with us during a period when their colleagues and some of the people they rely on are out on strike.
Outdoor enthusiasts should note the extension does not include the Window Pit, which is the area that is within blast range of the Shipyard Titanic. While Sullivan isn’t sure when they will be moving into that area, he is pretty sure it won’t be until 2027 at the earliest. “We would give the community a significant amount of notice before that,” he says.
Above photo: Work happening in Little Windy Pit earlier this year.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
