Nunavut uranium mine plan enters environmental regulatory process

A proposal for Nunavut's first uraniummine has entered the territory's environmental regulatory process.

Uranium mining company Areva Resources Canada Inc. wants to develop an open-pit and underground mining operation at its Kiggavik site, about 80 kilometres west of Baker Lake.

The company's proposal has gone to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, which is currently seeking feedback from government departments and agencies, Inuit organizations and municipal governments.

The deadline for commenting is Feb. 10. Board officials said the feedback will allow them to decide whether Arevan's proposal should be subjected to a full-scale review.

"In November, we submitted the project description, along with all of the permit applications, and now we're going through the environmental assessment process," Barry McCallum, Areva's manager of Nunavut affairs, told CBC News.

McCallum estimated that Nunavut's regulatory process could take four to five years. Areva hopes to start construction of a mine at Kiggavik in 2012, then start production in 2015.

If approved, the mine would produce about three million kilograms of uranium each year for 17 years, according to the company.

The Nunavut planning commission gave the green light to the Kiggavik proposal last month.