Redesigned footprint for Ajax mine ready for unveiling within ‘a few weeks’ says Lacasse

NEWS/ AJAX — A new footprint for the Ajax mine proposal will be revealed within a few weeks, a spokesman said today.

Yves Lacasse, external affairs manager for KGHM International, made the comment in the wake of a weekend pro-Ajax ‘party’ that drew an estimated 2,000 people to the Interior Savings Centre.

Lacasse told The Armchair Mayor News there will be more such events for supporters, but there will also be more informational events for the public.

An announcement will be made in a few weeks revealing the new layout for the project, followed by public-input sessions on the changes “two to four weeks later,” he said.

It was announced at Saturday’s event that the company will be ready to submit its permit application by the end of the first quarter next year.

The application was originally scheduled for completion last September but KGHM delayed it until the site is redesigned. Officials said at the time some components of the site might be moved and the pit could be enlarged.

Lacasse declined today to confirm that the tailings pile will be moved from beside Inks Lake or to say whether negotiations are continuing with ranchers for the acquisition of more land.

“It will be significantly different,” he said. “We would prefer to unveil it all at once. We want to optimize this.”

He said none of the some 40 studies required to make the application ready for submission has been completed yet, but the company is discussing internally how to release results as they become available.

Some of the studies won’t be finished until just before the application, he said. “This is very complex. The study area needs to change, so the studies need to be modified. You submit the application when all the studies are done.”

Lacasse said Saturday’s event was an indication of how much support there is in the community, but he said the crowd could have been twice as big with more time to organize it.

“There’s an outpouring of support,” he said, adding KGHM is confident it has the support of the “clear majority” of Kamloops residents.

He confirmed the company commissions public opinion surveys. “We do run a lot of polls, but we don’t see the need to share that publicly” lest it be regarded as self-serving.

Asked how much Saturday’s event cost, Lacasse replied, “That’s irrelevant. It’s not relevant to what we tried to do. We tried to put together a first-class event for those who support the project.

“There’s no price on that.”