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

Gold Canyon Resources Inc: Final Environmental Study Report Review
March 30, 2013
o Forestry pressures;
o Increased traffic;
o Seasonal and all-season eastern corridor use schedule;
o Traffic load on seasonal and all-season eastern corridor;
o Impact of herbicide use by forestry company;
o Water contamination issues, changes to hydrology, ground water quality,
aquatic environment, etc.
o Forest fires and other natural events;
o First Nation traditional land use, Aboriginal and Treaty rights;
o Tourism;
o Wildlife hunting and predation;
o Invasive species;
o All mining activities and establishment of a larger Springpole base camp, etc.
Prior to any project going forward, a thorough cumulative impacts assessment
should be completed, taking into account the above mentioned parameters.
Recommendation: GCU complete a thorough cumulative impacts assessment, taking into
account the above mentioned parameters, that evaluates the long-term impacts of the
project over the anticipated duration of Springpole exploration; 10-20 years.
5.9 Future Corridor Upgrades
In all discussions to date with Stakeholders, GCU has maintained that they are looking to
build a seasonal winter road. Closer inspection of the ESR indicates that GCU is not being
fully transparent with stakeholders, First Nations, etc, as the ESR makes reference to
establishing an all season road.
“Water crossings along the eastern corridor would be built to a primary road standard
where possible to facilitate future potential upgrades of the winter operational road to an
all-weather access road at a later date and also to minimize environmental risk associated
with less robust water crossing structures (ESR page vii).”
Gravel placement over this winter operational road and upgrading it to an all-weather
access road is not part of the currently proposed Project. “Pending continued positive
exploration results and on-going consultation, the gravel placement that would be
required to upgrade this winter operational road to an all-weather access road may
be proposed at a later date (ESR page vii).”
Recommendation: GCU needs to outline a 10-20 year plan for the Springpole Gold Project,
inclusive of the eastern corridor, outlining their full intentions for Springpole, the eastern
corridor and collaborations with other resource harvesting companies; Domtar.
5.10 GCU and Domtar Synergies
GCU emphasizes that Domtar may use the eastern corridor at some point in the future,
without providing specific information as to when; 2014-2019 period. Review of the
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