Notice of Commencement of an Environmental Assessment

KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project

Stewart (BC)

July 23, 2009 (Updated July 19, 2010) -- Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Transport Canada are required to ensure that a comprehensive study is conducted pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act commencing on July 10, 2009 in relation to the project: KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project.

On July 12, 2010, a series of amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act came into force. As part of these amendments, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is playing an enhanced role in the environmental assessment of this project as it will perform the duties and functions of the responsible authority in relation to this project until the submission of the comprehensive study report to the Minister of the Environment.

As part of its new role, the Agency has posted a notice on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry inviting the public to comment on the project and the conduct of the comprehensive study.

Seabridge Gold Incorporated proposes to develop a copper, gold and silver deposit located approximately 65 kilometres northwest of Stewart, British Columbia. The proposed development would include three large open pits, waste rock storage dumps, an ore grinding circuit, and small hydroelectric projects located in the Sulphurets Creek drainage of the Unuk River. Ground ore would be transported via a slurry pipeline through a tunnel to an ore concentrator plant and tailings management facility (tailings impoundment area) located in the Treaty and Teigen Creek drainages of the Bell-Irving River. New roads to access the site are proposed from Highway 37 to the plant and tailings management facility site along the Teigen Creek valley and from the existing Eskay Creek road to the open-pit mine area along the Unuk River and Sulphurets Creek valleys. Power for the mine site will likely be provided from the future BC Hydro transmission line that is proposed to be built along Highway 37. The proposed mine development would also include a camp, explosives factories and magazines, buildings and supporting infrastructure and is expected to process between 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes per day of ore over a mine life of at least 30 years.

Additional information about the proposed development can be obtained by visiting the KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project on the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office Website.

An environmental assessment is required in relation to the project because Environment Canada may take action in relation to subsection 10(1) of the International River Improvements Regulations; Fisheries and Oceans Canada may take action in relation to paragraphs 36(5)(a) to (e), where the regulation made pursuant to those paragraphs contains a provision that limits the application of the regulation to a named site of the Fisheries Act and to subsection 35(2) of the Fisheries Act; Natural Resources Canada may take action in relation to paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Explosives Act and because Transport Canada may take action in relation to section 5 of the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

This project is also subject to the environmental assessment requirements of the Government of British Columbia.

As per the Cabinet Directive on Improving the Performance of the Regulatory System for Major Resource Projects, this environmental assessment has been identified as a major natural resource project. For additional information refer to the Major Projects Management Office's Tracker that monitors the progress of proposed major resource projects through the federal regulatory review system.

For further information on this environmental assessment, please contact:
KSM (Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell) Project
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Garett Cooper, Project Manager
410 - 701 West Georgia Street
Vancouver  BC  V7Y 1C6
Telephone: 604-666-2431
Fax: 604-666-6990
Email: KSM.Project@ceaa-acee.gc.ca

and refer to Registry reference number 09-03-49262