Revised Final Environmental Study Report (24 MB) - Gold Canyon ...

Table of Contents
Gold Canyon Resources Inc: Final Environmental Study Report Review
March 30, 2013
1 Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Report Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 5
1.2 Stakeholders and First Nation Communities .................................................................................... 5
2 Springpole Eastern Corridor Conflicts ................................................................................... 7
2.1 Project Timeline ................................................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Major Concerns Identified by Stakeholders...................................................................................... 7
3 Federal and Provincial Policies ................................................................................................ 9
3.1 Ontario Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act ..................................................................................... 9
3.2 Ontario Water Resources Act ......................................................................................................... 10
3.3 Ontario Heritage Act ....................................................................................................................... 11
4 Class Environmental Assessment & Unresolved Environmental Issues .................. 13
4.1 Good Neighbour Policy ................................................................................................................... 14
5 ESR and Technical Report Deficiencies ............................................................................... 16
5.1 Project Rationale ............................................................................................................................. 16
5.2 Study Areas and Corridor Dimensions ............................................................................................ 17
5.2.1 Study Area Dimensions ........................................................................................................... 18
5.2.2 Eastern Corridor Dimensions ................................................................................................... 19
5.3 Terrestrial Baseline Report Deficiencies ......................................................................................... 19
5.3.1 Large Mammal Survey Deficiencies ........................................................................................ 20
5.3.2 Small Mammal Trapping Deficiencies ..................................................................................... 24
5.3.3 Bird Survey Deficiencies........................................................................................................... 25
5.3.4 Vegetative Survey Deficiencies ................................................................................................ 28
5.4 Aquatics Baseline Report Deficiencies ............................................................................................ 31
5.5 Hydrology Baseline Report Deficiencies ......................................................................................... 34
5.6 Habitat Fragmentation .................................................................................................................... 35
5.7 Environmental Protection and Mitigation Plans ............................................................................. 35
5.8 Cumulative Impacts Assessment and Residual Effects ................................................................... 36
5.9 Future Corridor Upgrades ............................................................................................................... 37
5.10 GCU and Domtar Synergies ............................................................................................................. 37
5.11 Corridor Rehabilitation ................................................................................................................... 38
5.12 GCU Preliminary Economic Assessment and Stock Volatility ......................................................... 40
6 Summary of Recommendations ............................................................................................. 42
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