Canada-based junior Rio2 will hear in the next two weeks whether its Fenix gold project, in Chile, is approved or not. However, the company said last week that the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) had recommended that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the mine be rejected.
The SEA reportedly said that the project fulfilled all the applicable environmental regulations and that it met the environmental requirements for the granting of applicable sectoral environmental permits, but that Fenix had not provided enough information about eliminating impacts over the chinchilla, guanaco, and vicuña.
The consolidated evaluation report would be presented to the Comision de Evaluacion Regional, which includes 11 governmental institutions with environmental competencies. These institutions would vote to approve or disapprove the EIA.
Rio2 said Fenix remained committed to continue working with the SEA and other governmental institutions to resolve and mitigate any potential impacts that needed further consideration to secure approval for the project.
The Fenix mine will be a run-of-mine heap leach operation, and no crushing or tailings storage facilities are required, minimising the overall impact and footprint of the project.
The project has a 16-year mine life, with average production of 85 000 oz/y of gold for total life-of-mine production of 1.37-million ounces of gold.
From a social perspective, support from all six indigenous groups directly impacted by the project is in place. The Indigenous Consultation Process for the EIA process has been successfully completed with the signing of the final agreement in April 2022.