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

Gold Canyon Resources Inc.
Springpole Gold Access Corridor Project
Final Environmental Study Report
The Red Lake area has been an historic mining camp since the gold rush of the 1920s, and it
currently has five (5) active mines and numerous decommissioned / abandoned mines situated
within the Municipality of Red Lake. The mining and mineral development sector is the largest
employer in the region.
Contingent on successful financing, the on-going near-term exploration and evaluation work would
result in annual expenditures on the order of millions to tens of millions of dollars. Based on
experience to date, at least two thirds of these expenditures would accrue to the surrounding region
and support the local economy of northwestern Ontario.
Mineral exploration is not a scientific or recreational pursuit, it is a necessary means to an often
desired end (i.e. a producing mine). Although a producing mine is outside the scope of this EA
process, a producing mine is the objective of every exploration project, establishing new mines is a
provincial government objective (refer to Section 1.3) and so aspects of a producing mine are
regarded as appropriate context for this EA.
A producing mine would be significant to the local economy and taxation base. While the
actual characteristics of the potential production phase could differ from this, benchmarking
of other gold mining projects across the province suggest that the employment created
would represent a >10% increase in the current total primary and manufacturing industry
employment level in the Red Lake / Ear Falls region.
The provincial and federal governments would be principal beneficiaries, through new
revenues generated through employee income taxes and other employee-related
government-mandated contributions (e.g. to Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance
Program, Employee Health Tax and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board). These senior
levels of government would also enjoy additional revenues through value–added sales,
corporate income, capital and other taxes levied on the corporation.
These benefits do not include the voluntary contributions to the local and Aboriginal
communities that are commonplace with large scale resource development projects once a
revenue stream is achieved, consistent with the tenets of modern corporate social
responsibility.
Ontario recognizes the importance of mineral development opportunities to northern Ontario, as
summarized in Section 2.
The Project objective of establishing improved access for a mineral development project is aligned
with Ontario’s objective of encouraging mineral development opportunities, particularly for resource
definition projects such as the Springpole Gold Project. Furthermore, the preferred alternative
corridor presented herein would conform to the provincial objective of being a leading example of
progressive environmental stewardship as summarized in the bullets below.
Maximizing synergies with other planned and potential resource development projects such
as Domtar’s planned Wenasaga road and a potential all-weather road to Cat Lake First
Nation.
Minimizing potential cumulative impacts to terrestrial habitat and remoteness values by
avoiding a second linear development in the region and following a recent wildfire area
rather than an area of unaffected tract of forest.
July 2013 Page 42