A government advisory board in Nunavut has recommended against an Areva uranium mine in the northern territory.
The Nunavut Impact Review Board has concluded that Areva’s Kiggavik project lacks a definite start date or development schedule.
It says that means the project’s environmental and social impacts cannot be properly assessed.
The $2.1-billion project called for one underground and four open-pit mines just west of Baker Lake that would have been on the edge of a caribou calving ground.
The Committee for Future Generations says they are pleased with the NIRB ruling.
“Having met with some of the Inuit… who have worked tirelessly against this proposal, which would have had everlasting impacts on the environment and the very culture of who they are I am sure there is much relief within the community of Baker’s Lake,” said spokesperson for the committee Candyce Paul in a statement.
Previously, a group of Dene communities in northern Saskatchewan spoke out against the project.
In December 2013, the Athabasca Denesuline Né Né Land Corp., which represents First Nations in Black Lake, Fond du Lac and Hatchet Lake, passed a resolution opposing the transport of uranium over their territory.
“This danger has now been eliminated,” said Paul in regards to those concerns.
A spokesperson for Areva says they are disappointed by the recommendation, but will take the time to review the report and determine the steps they need to take to move forward.
(With files from the Canadian Press)