B.C. ministers deny Ajax mine project an environmental assessment certificate

The Ajax mine has not been granted an environmental assessment certificate by the B.C. government, signalling the potential end of the project.

KGHM Ajax Mining Inc. had applied to build a 1,700-hectare gold and copper mine on the site of a pre-existing open pit mine. The mine would have been 10 kilometers southwest of Kamloops on the territories of the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwépemc Nation, Ashcroft Indian Band, Lower Nicola Indian Band and Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band.

The project presented an “unacceptable risk,” said a release from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

Environment Minister George Heyman and Mines Minister Michelle Mungall decided not to issue the certificate.

“The ministers concluded that taken as a whole, the potential, and in many cases significant, adverse effects of the Ajax project outweighed the potential benefits,” the statement said.

This project has gone through nearly seven years of consultation and assessment.

The certificate was not issued because an assessment found 53 adverse effects to the environment, covering areas such as human well-being and air quality.

Of these, 21 adverse effects were considered to be of a “high-to-moderate” magnitude. There was also the potential for these effects to worsen.

The ministers also identified “significant adverse effects to Indigenous heritage and to the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes.”