Assessment halts for Grays Bay Road and Port after KIA misses deadline
FEB 24, 2022 – 5:12 PM EST
KIA’s president says he plans to resubmit a proposal in the coming months
The proposed Grays Bay Road and Port has hit a hurdle as the Kitikmeot Inuit Association will have to resubmit a project proposal to the Nunavut Impact Review Board. (Photo from Nunavut Resources Corp.)
The Kitikmeot Inuit Association will have to resubmit its proposal for the Grays Bay Road and Port project to the Nunavut Impact Review Board after it missed a Jan. 4 deadline.
The review board wanted an updated scope of the project for the assessment to continue.
The project would see the construction of a 227-kilometre gravel road to connect the old Jericho mine in Nunavut to a deepwater port at Grays Bay. In the winter, it would link up with an ice road to Yellowknife.
The KIA says the project would provide the Kitikmeot region with better access to goods as well as open up potential mining opportunities.
In May 2021, the KIA notified the review board that it had taken control of the project from Nunavut Resources Corp.
KIA president Stanley Anablak said his organization intends to submit a new proposal for assessment.
“We’re in the process of doing that and hopefully we’ll have something on file with [the review board] in the next coming months,” Anablak said.
COVID-19 has caused some setbacks, he said.
“Office shutdowns and things like that have really put a strain on moving things like this forward,” he said, adding that he hopes business can return to normal soon.
Given global factors such as rising inflation and the ongoing pandemic, Anablak said he cannot give an estimate of how big of a delay the project faces yet.
But these challenges have not dimmed Anablak’s hope for the Grays Bay project.
“We’re very hopeful the project will be moving forward and completed.”
The original article can be found on the Nunatsiaq news website
