Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. Announces Response to Ministry of
Environment Posted
VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/
-- Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. (NYSE MKT: PBM), (CDNX: BKM.V)
has responded to the Ministry of Environment in regards to the
rejection of the Company's Application for an Environmental
Assessment Certificate.
The Company has been working on the development of the Morrison
Copper/Gold Project (the Project) since 1998. Baseline data to
support the Application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate
(EAC) has been collected since 2002. PBM entered the
Pre-Application stage of the Environmental Assessment Process on
September 30, 2003.
On July 12, 2010, PBM entered the
Application Review stage of the Environmental Assessment process
when the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) accepted the
Company's Application for an EAC.
On August 20, 2012, day 763 of the
180-day Review period, the EAO completed the Environmental
Assessment Application Review and submitted their referral
documents to the Ministers for a decision.
On October 1, 2012, the
Application was rejected by the Ministers although the EAO's
Assessment Report concluded that the Project as proposed does not
have the potential for significant adverse effects and that the
First Nations have been consulted and accommodated
appropriately.
The Company's responses to the factors that were considered by
the Ministers in reaching their decision, (as per the e-mail from
Terry Lake, Minister of Environment
received October 1, 2012) have been
prepared, emailed to the appropriate ministers and posted on the
Company's website at the following link:
http://www.pacificbooker.com/pdf/121030L-MorrisonEACRejectionResponse.pdf.
The Company wishes to emphasize that the design and
environmental assessment of the Project was prepared by qualified
professionals who have extensive world-wide experience. In
addition, independent 3rd Party reviews, initiated by the EAO,
supported PBM's assessment of no significant adverse effects.
PBM has adequately and reasonably addressed all the issues
raised by government agencies, First Nations and the public (over
70 government agency reviewers, nine organizations and over 800
issues/comments).
The Application contained approximately 16,000 pages including
the EAC Application; an Addendum to the EAC Application; Review
Response Report Rev 1; Review Response Report Rev 2; 3rd Party
Review Response Report and 3rd Party Review Response Report
Addendum.
The EAO and the Company agreed to 32 Conditions that PBM would
have to meet as part of the EAC. The information and plans would be
developed during the Detailed Engineering phase, which PBM has not
yet started, and would be completed prior to the issuance of the
Mines Act Permit.
In a letter to the EAO on August 13,
2012, the Company summarized its final response with respect
to the EAC Application. In that letter, PBM noted that the changes
in predicted Morrison Lake metal
concentrations, using upper bound loadings, due to the project are
below BC Water Quality Guidelines and nominally above baseline, and
the risk of a significant adverse effect is, therefore, negligible
and that the design is protective of the aquatic
environment.
The Company wishes to emphasize that PBM is strongly committed
to continue to work towards bringing the proposed Morrison
Copper/Gold Project to commercial production.
If you would like to be added to our email newsgroup, please
send your request by email to info@pacificbooker.com.
Contact:
Gregory R. Anderson
Director, CEO and President
1-800-747-9911
1-800-234-3680
SOURCE Pacific Booker Minerals Inc.