Decision on Provincial and Federal Environmental Assessments for Ajax Project

Report number
34/2017

The Management Board of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. announces that it obtained information on 15 of December 2017 that the British Columbia Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (provincial government) have declined the issuance of an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the Ajax copper-gold project near Kamloops, British Columbia.

The Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada issued an opinion that the project would produce significant adverse effects, and has referred the project onwards to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Natural Resources Canada. The responsible ministries will review the matter, and the federal cabinet (made up of the various federal ministers) will ultimately determine whether the project’s adverse effects are justified such that the project can proceed in spite of those adverse effects.

The decisions follow an assessment review process, which involved extensive engagement with provincial and federal government agencies, technical working and community advisory groups, First Nations and a broad array of stakeholder interest groups, including thousands of community members.

KGHM Ajax, following the review of the reasons for the provincial decision, will consider the next steps, which may include judicial review.

Ajax is an advanced stage copper-gold project that is owned by KGHM Ajax Mining Inc. (KGHM Ajax), a joint venture company owned by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (80%) and Abacus Mining and Exploration Corporation (20%).

Legal basis: art. 17 (1) of MAR (Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC (Official Journal of the European Union dated 12 June 2014, no. L 173/1)