According to the Canadian Press, Vancouver-based Avanti Mining says its efforts are moving forward as it seeks to restart a shuttered molybdenum mine in northwestern B.C., 140 kilometres north of Prince Rupert.
The company says the Kitsault mine project has been handed to Environment Minister Terry Lake and Mines Minister Rich Coleman, and the two men have 45 days to either issue or withhold an environmental assessment certificate, or order further investigation.
The Department of Fisheries also says it has new information showing the mine's tailing ponds won't utilize fish-bearing waters, meaning the Kitsault project has satisfied effluent regulations.
Low molybdenum prices forced shutdown of the Kitsault mine in 1982, but Avanti believes it can extract 232 million tonnes of ore over the next 16 years and create 350 permanent jobs if it is allowed to reopen the mine.