Donlin Creek Meeting; March 12, 2009
NVN Environmental Director, Mitchell Dammeyer reports on the March 12th Donlin Creek Meeting in Aniak
A New Level of Detail about the Proposed Project:
As the Donlin Creek Project moves forward to possible permitting in early to mid 2009, Donlin Creek LLC has stepped up efforts to reach out to the people in the Kuskokwim region. On March 12, 2009 Donlin Creek LLC held a meeting in Aniak, with all interested parties and individuals in which they presented and explained their project to a new degree of detail. This work likely falls under “pre-scoping” efforts. Pre-scoping is an effort by Donlin Creek LLC to engage the public in the project prior to government agency involvement in the permitting (NEPA) process. If Donlin Creek LLC is successful in engaging the public, this could set the tone for the remainder of the permitting process.
While the detail provided by Donlin Creek LLC at this meeting was well beyond previous levels of detail, it is worth noting that much of what was presented at the meeting in Aniak is similar to information contained in the infamous “SRK report”, which was published in 2006. The current plan has the basic outline of the proposed mine and surrounding activities in line with the long held “baseline” scenario.
While the SRK report provides a fairly in-depth view of mine development and operations, Donlin Creek produced a 30 page “user friendly” booklet that outlines the current plans for Donlin Creek.
While Donlin Creek LLC has expended significant effort to clarify the mechanics of the mine’s operation, the scope and likelihood of potential environmental impacts of the mine operation have not received the same attention. Most of the data which has been collected has not been made public, so determining the level to which Donlin Creek LLC will be able to determine possible impacts is undetermined. For example, details on Mercury emissions and waste rock geochemistry have not been made available to the public yet. Having access to more detailed information will be illumining because, as usual, the important factors are hidden in the details.
The current schedule proposed by Donlin Creek LLC is to submit permit applications prior to the middle of 2009. This schedule has slipped some from recent plans. If Donlin Creek LLC submits permit applications by mid-2009, the NEPA process will likely take until early 2012, with construction beginning that summer. Actual mining might begin around 2015. These plans are very tentative, as it is yet to be determined if permits will even be pursued by Donlin Creek LLC.
Created By mleary on 03/23/2009 07:15 PM
Last updated by mleary on 03/23/2009 07:21 PM
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