Case Study

Environmental Data Collection

• Baseline data collection for the Springpole Gold Project has been ongoing since 2010, in preparation for the Environmental Assessment process. KBM is presently providing environmental data collection support, including songbird and marshbird surveys, bat acoustic monitoring, and vegetation and wetland surveys.

Species at Risk Overall Benefit Permitting

• Prior to the initiation of the Environmental Assessment process, the Springpole Project was approved to build a seasonal (winter) temporary access road to service the camp, which was previously only accessible by float plane or ice road. However, because the winter road will disturb Woodland Caribou habitat it requires an Overall Benefit (OB) Permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to proceed. KBM has led the OB permitting process and the development of OB measures to counteract the residual effects of the winter road, with the end goal of leaving the Churchill Caribou Range in better condition for Woodland Caribou than before the road development.

Environmental Assessment

• Environmental Assessments are large, multidisciplinary reports that illustrate the various aspects of a proposed project and provide a detailed assessment on its likely impacts on the natural environment, surrounding communities and traditional land use. KBM has been contracted to prepare the terrestrial environmental assessment subsections for: vegetation, wetlands and wildlife. Species at Risk are a crucial component of all three disciplines. KBM is also providing mapping support for the fisheries/aquatic subsections.

Aggregate Permitting

• As part of the overall project development, the seasonal access road will be upgraded to an all-season road to service the active mine. This will require substantial aggregate resources. KBM was contracted to identify potential aggregate sources via remote sensing, ground-truth these locations, and to prepare the aggregate permit applications.