en.Wedoany.com Reported - St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) has advanced its Nova Scotia gold development plan, with federal assessment regulators accepting the initial project description for the proposed 15-Mile Processing Hub, thereby initiating the formal permitting process.
The project disclosure document enters a 20-day public comment period, during which consultations will be held with Mi’kmaq communities. Following this, federal officials will decide whether a comprehensive environmental impact assessment is required for the project.
St Barbara Managing Director and CEO Andrew Strelein stated that this submission marks a critical step in the approval pathway for the 15-Mile Processing Hub. He noted that it reflects the company’s work over the past three years, with the project redesigned and enhanced to fully incorporate and respond to feedback from regulators, local communities, and Mi’kmaq communities.
The processing hub project aligns with a recent cooperation agreement between Ottawa and Nova Scotia aimed at achieving a “one project, one review” approval process. The project plans to redevelop three historic mines in Nova Scotia and construct a central processing plant with an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes of ore. According to a pre-feasibility study released earlier this year, the project is expected to produce approximately 100,000 ounces of gold annually over an 11-year operating life.
The project design has been re-optimized. The processing hub will handle ore from the 15-Mile, Old Austen, and Old Mitchell mines, replacing the previously considered approach of building multiple processing facilities. St Barbara stated that the redesign incorporates feedback from Indigenous communities, regulators, environmental experts, and local stakeholders, and is based on a decade of environmental studies and three years of engineering work. The modified design reduces land disturbance by 23% at the 15-Mile mine, 43% at the Old Austen mine, and 55% at the Old Mitchell mine. The redesign also eliminates several previously planned roads and some processing facilities, reducing impacts on wetlands and watersheds, and will remediate historically affected areas with elevated mercury and arsenic levels.
This public disclosure is the first step in the overall permitting process, which will be followed by Nova Scotia’s environmental assessment registration document and a series of provincial and federal approvals. St Barbara plans to submit the environmental assessment document in the third quarter of fiscal year 2027, while advancing the project’s feasibility study. According to the company’s estimates, the project could generate approximately $5 billion in economic activity during construction, operation, and closure phases, creating about 1,386 construction jobs and providing approximately 740 long-term operational positions in rural Nova Scotia.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
