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Company News Releases...
Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. Addresses Inconsistency with Provincial Metal
Leaching/Acid Rock Drainage Policy as per the Recommendations of the Executive
Director’s Report
Vancouver BC, November 22, 2012: The Ministry of Energy and Mines (“MEM”)
expressed concerns with respect to the Company’s compliance with the Provincial
Metal Leaching/Acid Rock Drainage (“ML/ARD”) Policy. The ML/ARD Policy provides
for a variety of mitigation strategies that are available to prevent the impacts
of ML/ARD. These include avoidance, underwater storage, blending of Potential
Acid Generating and Non-Potential Acid Generating materials, covers, collection
and treatment.
The Company’s strategy, as per the Feasibility Study, was to store waste rock on
land adjacent to the open-pit, in the natural catchment draining into the pit.
On closure an engineered low permeability cover was proposed and the seepage
from the waste rock dump and pit-walls would be collected and treated. The
collection and treatment of ARD is not the preferred choice, however, it is
acceptable as per the ML/ARD Policy, ML/ARD Guidelines and precedence set by
other projects. It can be a highly effective and reliable means for protecting
the environment.
In October 2010, MEM asked the Company to provide a conceptual design for the
engineered low permeability cover that led the Company to believe that on-land
waste rock storage with a cover was acceptable. The Company revised the ML/ARD
predictions and presented the results in Review Response Report Revision 1 in
November 2010.
In December 2010, The Company was asked to make another major project change,
placing the waste rock into the open-pit on closure. The Company again revised
the ML/ARD predictions and presented the results in Review Response Report
Revision 2 in June 2011. The BC Environmental Assessment Office (“EAO”) prepared
a draft Environmental Assessment Report based on Review Response Report Revision
2 and presented it to the Working Group (“WG”) for comments in September 2011.
As a result of comments received from the WG, the EAO commissioned an
independent 3rd Party review. The Company prepared two 3rd Party Review Response
reports to address input from 3rd Party reviewers.
As a result of the revisions, the EAO finalized the Environmental Assessment
Report and concluded that the Morrison Copper/Gold Project does not have the
potential for significant adverse effects which was supported by the independent
3rd Party review.
In October 2012, after being in the EA process since 2003, the Executive
Director’s Report stated that the project was inconsistent with the ML/ARD
Policy.
The Company wishes to state that the ML/ARD predictions have been prepared by
Qualified Professionals. The ML/ARD Predictions document contains 1028 pages and
represents work carried out since 2003. Water quality predictions have benefited
from the large database available from the nearby Granisle and Bell mine sites
that host geologically similar deposits. The availability of long-term
geochemical data from full-scale facilities that can be used as proxy data for a
new mine is a positive aspect to the Morrison environmental assessment. In
addition the Company’s ML/ARD assessment includes 40+ year old Morrison drill
core (drilled by Noranda from 1963 to 1973), which is being analyzed in on-site
leach barrels.
The Company’s ML/ARD mitigation strategy of placing waste rock in the open-pit
on closure results in a very small quantity (relative to the total waste rock)
of exposed pit-wall rock that will contribute to ML/ARD. The Company strategy
meets, or exceeds, the ML/ARD Policy of underwater storage and minimization of
exposed mine rock on closure.
If you would like to be added to our email newsgroup, please send your request
by email to info@pacificbooker.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
“Erik Tornquist”
Erik Tornquist, Director
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