By Thia James

Council expected to endorse response to Shore Gold EIS

Sep 18, 2013 | 6:31 AM

Prince Albert is one step closer to officially endorsing a report responding to Shore Gold’s environmental impact statement.

On Monday evening, the executive committee agreed to forward a recommendation to council to endorse the Meyers Norris Penny report, “City of Prince Albert: Response to Shore Gold Environmental Impact Statement.” Council is expected to approve the report’s endorsement when it next meets on Monday.

The report commissioned by the city acknowledges that the Star-Orion South diamond mine will bring business and employment opportunities to people in the region.
However, the report also states that the mine could “impose costs on surrounding communities such as Prince Albert for the provision of civic infrastructure to support the mine’s workforce.”

The report calls for the development of a “value-added diamond manufacturing industry.” It recommends that Shore Gold set targets for local hiring, hire locals that meet employment criteria before looking to out-of-area applicants, and among other things, locate the off-site sort house in Prince Albert.

Coun. Martin Ring moved the recommendation in executive committee and praised the report by Meyers Norris Penny.

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“They’ve had great dialogue with the business community,” he said. “The business community, fire service, police service, I mean they’ve really nailed it, I think, in this report.”

And all of council is pleased with the report, Mayor Greg Dionne said Tuesday morning. “We’ve sent it off to the agencies. Plus we’re also sending it to the premier, all our MLAs, the chamber [Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce], everybody else, just to let them know that we’re working on it and trying to get some of the spin-off business, if the mine ever goes ahead.”

The city’s asking for spin-off businesses – the services, the warehousing, the diamonds. “We have a great diamond operator here on Central Avenue,” he said.
“We have some things to offer, and we just want our fair share.”

He said the new mine would be a “big boost” to the local economy. “It would be like opening a brand-new mill 2,000, 1,000 employees.” He added they’re sure it will be have an impact on housing on housing and economic development.

A lot of the time, Prince Albert is overlooked in favour of Saskatoon, because the latter has the “big airport,” Dionne said.

In mid-August, Shore Gold announced that the environmental impact statement would be open to public comment for 30 days. These comments could end up in the company’s final report about its proposed mine, which would be located in the Fort à la Corne Provincial Forest, east of Prince Albert.

See the full report by Meyers Norris Penny here.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames