The British Columbia government has again refused an environmental assessment certificate (EAC) for the proposed Morrison copper/gold project, stating that the project poses potential risks to fish and water quality.

Morrison is the proposed openpit mine of Pacific Booker Minerals, on the shore of Morrison lake on the territory of the Lake Babine Nation and upstream of the territories of the Gitanyow and Gitxsan First Nations. The project is designed to extract 30 000 t/d of ore over an anticipated 21-year mine life.

Pacific Booker Minerals first applied for an EAC in 2010, which was refused in 2012 owing to the potential that the mine has to affect a unique wild sockeye salmon population that contributes to the Skeena River sockeye.

At the time, the Ministers also determined that the long-term liability for the province and risk to the environment were not acceptable and that there was insufficient data about Morris Lake and the potential diminished long-term water quality in the lake was not an acceptable risk.

The company initiated a judicial review of the decision and in late 2013, the BC Supreme Court directed that the application for an EAC be reconsidered.

In mid-2015, following the reconsideration process, the then Ministers ordered the project to undergo further assessment to collect additional baseline information and analysis to ensure thorough and accurate analysis of the project's risks to water quality, salmon and the broader environment. The further assessment order laid out the information Pacific Booker would need to provide to continue development of the project. The first step was to submit a draft supplemental application information requirements document, but despite three attempts between 2016 and 2021, the provincial government said the draft documents failed to meet requirements.

In December last year, the government rescinded the further assessment order and Ministers George Heyman and Bruce Ralston used the decision materials from 2015 to decide on an EAC for Morrison.

“In light of uncertainty, we do not think it would be in the public interest to grant an EAC for the Morrison mine,” Heyman and Ralston said this week.

The Ministers also pointed out that the EAC was now more than ten years old and that there may be new scientific or on-the-ground information that should be taken into account through a full environmental assessment, should Pacific Booker wish to reapply for an EAC.