If I were Sprott, I would send in a forensic mining auditor to inspect the project, because this is just another WTF? news release. Licensing is required? That's news to me, because the MMER sched 2 has already come into force.

Any information that GBN gives to government is the publicly available record of what the company intends. For instance, there is no plan for an open pit on Alimak:

"The Bingo and Decade deposits and the remainder of the Jolu deposit will be mined using underground methods."

The Jolu mine doesn't come into consideration in the updated and final PEAs at all, but here its mentioned in the Canada Gazette.

The construction of raised berms and dams was supposed to occur on the Mallard TMF:

"Proposed use of Mallard Lake as a TIA

GBR is proposing to use Mallard Lake for the disposal of 430 000 m3 of tailings from the Jolu Project over the course of three years. In order to use Mallard Lake as a TIA for the Jolu Project, upgrades to the existing structures and facilities would be required. The principal upgrades would include

• restoration of Dams 1 and 2 to their original elevations;
• establishment of a final point of control with an engineered stop-log control structure at the outlet to Mallard Creek;
• construction of new pump houses to provide recycling or treatment of tailings solution in the mill, as required;
• construction of reclaim water pumping stations in Cells A and B and possibly a flow control structure at Dam 1 to control and manage flows between Cells A and B;
• raising of Dams 1 and 2 by 2.8 m to accommodate the approximately 430 000 m3of tailings from the life of the project;
• installation of geotechnical instrumentation for monitoring of groundwater levels and dam settlement; and
• upgrading of the perimeter roadway to all-weather standards to allow daily inspections of the proposed TIA."

ENGOS were watching this project from the getgo and will do anything to throw a wrench in the works. The company has to keep us informed with detailed knowledge about the status of tailings disposal areas and their activities. So far, we are only back-tracking.

There was no plan whatsoever to raise the berms on the above-ground facility. Has the company dragged its feet on the planned construction of the berms? Has an ENGO interfered any way they could and forced the company to alter its plans?

http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2011/2011-02-19/html/reg2-eng.html

-F6