The Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) reversed its 2016 decision to block Sabina Gold & Silver from developing its Back River gold project last week.

The NIRB reconsidered its initial rejection, the first time in 20 years it has done so for a project, after Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett punted the report back to the board to address five key areas of the rejection that she considered “deficient,” namely to do with the board’s determination of “significant adverse effects” on wildlife, aquatic environment and water quality. The board then sought additional information from Sabina and other intervenors.

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Following a four-day review that began on May 31, the board submitted a report on July 18 to Bennett, for her final decision, which she is expected to give in September or October. The report endorsed the project and included 94 terms and conditions the review board recommends for the project.

After the initial rejection last year, the company held additional public hearings and revised its environmental impact statement with 1,500 pages of new and updated provisions, protections and specific management plans, leading the board to overturn its earlier decision.

During the public hearings, many locals voiced concerns about Nunavut’s staggering 12.3 per cent unemployment rate – the highest in Canada – and its ensuing negative social effects. Sabina said when the mine is fully operational it will employ around 900 people.

Originally, the project’s proximity to caribou calving territory was a cause for concern for the NIRB, but Sabina included new conservation criteria that the board’s report refers to as the most protective caribou measures “ever developed for the Arctic” to prepare for the possibility of the project overlapping with caribou calving grounds.

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Sabina plans to develop open pit and underground mines at its Goose property, located about 400 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay. The pits would be mined for at least ten years, and their development would involve filling, damming or draining lakes and streams, and building a 157-kilometre road.

While waiting for the official go-ahead from Bennett, Sabina will reopen its Goose property in late July. “We’ll be running exploration programs and geotechnical programs, and we’ll also be doing some additional environmental samples to prepare for next year,” Matthew Pickard, vice-president of environment and sustainability at Sabina, told CIM Magazine.

Pickard said Sabina hopes to achieve first gold pour at the project, which has an estimated 3.4 million ounces of gold, in the first quarter of 2021.