NWP Coal Canada Limited (NWP) announced Jan. 15 that the combined Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Assessment Application (EIS/A) for the Crown Mountain Coking Coal Project has passed the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s (IAAC) Conformity Review process.

This process, pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 (CEAA 2012), confirms that EIS/A contains all the required information to proceed to the next regulatory phase, WNP stated in a media release.

“As of today, the EIS/A has been submitted to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Agency (BC EAO) to enable its review of the project pursuant to the BC Environmental Assessment Act 2018 (EAA 2018). This timing will allow coordination of the federal and provincial processes per the Joint Assessment and Engagement Plan developed by IAAC and the BC EAO,” NWP’s release said.

“The next regulatory phase, the EIS Review Phase, assesses the technical quality of the required information within the EIS/A and provides opportunity for NWP to respond to requests from the agencies for additional information or studies. The first step of the EIS/A Review Phase is a 30-day public comment period during which the public and Indigenous Nations can provide IAAC and the BC EAO with feedback and questions about the project.

“The duration of the EIS/A Review Phase is dependent upon the extent of any subsequent Information Requests and ongoing engagement with stakeholders. NWP has engaged extensively with regulators, Indigenous Nations and community stakeholders through the development of the EIS/A to ensure that all issues of concern are well understood and have been incorporated into the EIS/A.”

The Crown Mountain Project, sited 12 km northeast of Sparwood, is the only steelmaking coal development project in Canada that has reached the joint federal and provincial Review Phase of CEAA2012 and EAA2018.

This milestone confirms the Crown Mountain Project as the most advanced steelmaking development coal project in Canada, NWP said.

“The commencement of the Technical Review is a huge milestone for the Crown Mountain Project and highlights the standalone advanced status of the project,” stated NWP President Michael Gray.

“The recent decision by Glencore and Nippon Steel to spend US$9 billion to acquire Teck’s Elk Valley operations, which are adjacent to Crown Mountain, highlighted the attractiveness of the Elk Valley premium hard steelmaking coal and the significant concern by leading steelmakers about the reliability of current and future supply to meet increasing demand. The advanced nature of the Crown Mountain permitting process, puts the project in a unique position to further progress development and supply premium coal to contribute toward that demand.”

The Crown Mountain EIS/A was developed with the input of leading specialized environmental and technical consultants.

“The completed EIS/A demonstrates that the project represents a new era in steelmaking coal projects. The location and scale of the project provides a unique opportunity for the development of a premium steelmaking coal project with a substantially reduced environmental impact than that of historical and current coal production in Canada and other key producer locations,” NWP said.

“The EIS/A concluded that the project provides substantial employment, community development and economic benefits to the local, regional, provincial and federal economies and that any potential adverse regional environmental impacts can be eliminated, mitigated, or offset.”

Learn more about NWP’s Crown Mountain Coking Coal Project.

NWP Coal photo

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