No SAIR, no EA application, no certificate.
John Plourde has been repeatedly telling shareholders that the BC government was about to issue a EA certificate to Pacific Booker since the government decided further assessment was needed in October of 2012.
Upon deciding that further assessment was needed in 2012, the government issued a binding court order that outlined the further steps that PBM needed to take such that the goverment could reassess the project.
PBM chose to challenge the government's decision which resulted in the court doing the only thing it could do - refer the decison back to the ministers.
In August of 2014 a second set of ministers reassessed the project and again determined that further assessment was needed. A second court order outlining the work that PBM needed to undertake was issued.
After PBM failed to submit a suitable SAIR, in December, 2021 the government rescinded the further assessment needed order in lieu of a final project assessment. Only then were the ministers compelled to make a ruling on the project and only then was there any chance of obtaining a certificate.
As we all know the ministers ruled to deny the certificate, Since 2012, PBM's EA application was looked at by 3 sets of ministers in 2 different political parties and rejected every time.
Since 2012 PBM's EA application has only been put to the ministers for consideration twice. In summer of 2014 and in January 2022. Those were the only times when it was remotely possible to obtain a certificate. At no other time was there any chance of obtaining a certificate.
The steps to obtain an EA certificate are well documented in BC legislation. The BC government has shown that it is completely unwilling to submit an EA package to ministers for consideration unless the appropriate steps are followed.
The Minister's decision of February 7th, 2022 terminated PBMs 2010 EA application. For all intents and purposes, it no longer exists. No further consideration will be given to the old application.
The government invited PBM to re apply with a new application. The ONLY way to obtain an EA certificate is to submit an entirely new application - SAIR, project scope and economics, mine plan, public consultations, environmental mitigations, etc. and have it referred to the Ministers for a decision. There is absolutely ZERO chance of obtaining a certificate until this work is completed. The legislation is completely clear on the steps that must occur before an application is submitted to the Ministers for a decision.
Since 2012 various shareholders and management people have been under the illusion that a certificate could be obtained randomly or informally. Or without completion of the work outlined in the court orders. This was not the case.
Anyone who believes that PBM can obtain an EA certificate without a complete re application is a fool.
Anyone who tells you that PBM can obtain an EA certificate without a complete re application is a liar.
The BC EA legislation is very clear on the steps that must be undertaken to obtain an EA certificate. There is no pathway to obtain a certificate without a completed application that gets submitted to the Ministers. Pacific Booker was given 6 years to submit a SAIR in accordance with the 2012 and 2014 court orders. Management and shareholders refused to abide by the government's requirements and thus here we are today.
The first order of business for Pacific Booker is to start the SAIR submission process and set up a plan for the compilation of an entirely new EA application.
Now is not the time to be arguing about FN issues or approaches. No meaningful discussion with FN can occur until they have the new EA package to review and there is a tremendous amount of work to do before it will be available.
I hope this clears up any misconceptions about the steps PBM must take to move forward.