New Chair Appointed to Joint Review Panel for Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project

OTTAWA, Dec. 13, 2013 /CNW/ - Canada's Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Ontario's Minister of the Environment Jim Bradley today announced the appointment of  Ms. Lesley Griffiths as the new Chair of the three-member Joint Review Panel established to review the proposed Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project in Ontario.

Lesley Griffiths will join panel members David Pearson and Philip H. Byer who were appointed to the Panel on August 9, 2011. Biographical information on the Chair and two Members is available in the attached backgrounder.

The Joint Review Panel Agreement, including terms of reference, along with more information on this project, is available in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca , reference number 54755 and on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment website at www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/ .

About the Project
Stillwater Canada Inc. proposes to develop and operate the Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project north of Marathon, Ontario. This project would involve the construction and operation of an open-pit mine and mill for the purpose of extracting and processing ore containing copper and platinum group metals in addition to other activities.

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Backgrounder

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MARATHON PLATINUM GROUP METALS AND COPPER MINE PROJECT
JOINT REVIEW PANEL - BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Ms. Lesley Griffiths - Panel Chair

Lesley Griffiths was Co-principal of Griffiths Muecke from 1980 to 2011. The firm provided consulting services in the areas of consultation and consensus-building processes, environmental impact assessment, resource management, and community development. From 2011 to 2012 she was Executive Director of East Coast Environmental Law, a non-profit organization.  Ms. Griffiths has extensive experience relating to coastal and offshore planning, stakeholder involvement and facilitation, resource developments, waste management, watershed management, recreation and tourism planning, and community development.

Ms. Griffiths has chaired a number of joint federal-provincial environmental assessment panels, starting with the Voisey's Bay Mine and Mill Project in northern Labrador, followed by the Sydney Tar Ponds Remediation in Cape Breton. In 2011-12 she co-chaired the panel for the Lower Churchill Hydro-electric Generation Project. She also served as a joint panel member for the review of the Halifax Harbour wastewater treatment facility. Ms. Griffiths co-chaired the Nova Scotia Minister of Environment's Task Force on Clean Air, producing the Province's first air quality management strategy, and was the Process Lead for the Fundy Tidal Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment. She is currently facilitating the Roundtable for the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Regulatory Review.

Dr. David Pearson - Panel Member

Dr. David Pearson is a Professor of Earth Sciences and a member of the Co-operative Freshwater Ecology Unit at Laurentian University. He is Co-Director of the Laurentian University / Science North Graduate Diploma program in Science Communication, and Senior Science Advisor to Science North, Sudbury`s science centre, where he was the Project Director and then Founding Director from 1980 to 1986.

From 2001 to 2007 Dr. Pearson was Chair of the Ontario Office of the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network and is now science advisor to the Ontario Centre for Climate Impacts and Adaptation Resources. From 2008 to 2010 he was co-chair of the Ontario Government's Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation and chair of the Science Advisory Panel for Ontario's Far North Initiative. He has hosted two TV series: "Understanding the Earth" (TV Ontario) and "Down to Earth" (Mid Canada TV); and was the scientist for CBC Northern Ontario's weekly Radio Lab" from 1982 to 1997. In 2000, Dr. Pearson received the Geological Association of Canada's Ward Neale Medal for communication of the earth sciences, and in 2003 he was awarded the McNeil Medal of the Royal Society of Canada for public communication of science.

Dr. Philip H. Byer - Panel Member

Dr. Philip Byer is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto and a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His teaching, research and professional work are in the areas of environmental planning, project evaluation, environmental impact and risk assessment, and municipal waste management.

In the past 10 years, Dr. Byer has focused his research on improving the consideration of climate change in infrastructure planning. In 2004, he completed a project for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on methods for addressing climate change uncertainties in project assessments. He recently completed a second project for the Agency on decision-making under uncertainties for adapting to climate change in project planning.

Dr. Byer has also been a member of many advisory committees for governments and the private sector. He was Chair of the Province of Ontario Environmental Assessment Advisory Committee, which received the J.R. Dymond Public Service Award from the Federation of Ontario Naturalists in 1992 "in recognition of distinguished public service resulting in exceptional environmental achievement". Dr. Byer has also participated on a waste management advisory group to Toronto's City Council and was the technical advisor on risk assessment to the federal panel that reviewed the environmental assessment of the Confederation Bridge project. He has also worked as an advisor on the environmental impacts of an innovative renewable energy proposal and a major water diversion project.

SOURCE: Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

Media may contact

Isabelle Perrault
Communications
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
613-960-0290
[email protected]

Kate Jordan
Communications Branch
Ontario Ministry of the Environment
416-314-6666
[email protected]