TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Project developer Northcliff Resources has completed the environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for the Sisson tungsten/molybdenum project in New Brunswick, and submitted the report to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and the local environment department on Wednesday.

Northcliff president and CEO Chris Zahovskis said this week that the report, which describes the project and its potential environmental effects, as well as measures to avoid or minimise environmental effects throughout project construction, operation and closure phases, marked a critical milestone for the company.

“This comprehensive EIA report, prepared by Stantec, with input from leading industry engineering consultants, represents the culmination of two years of fieldwork, baseline studies and engineering. The EIA report demonstrates the prominence Northcliff places on designing, constructing, operating and closing this project in a responsible manner,” Zahovskis said.

The public would have its first opportunity to review and comment on the EIA report once the document was posted on the CEAA website.

The EIA review, which involves both the province and the federal government, is expected to take about a year to complete.

Northcliff in June entered into an environmental assessment review and capacity funding agreement with New Brunswick-based First Nations for the Sisson project.

The agreements, signed with the St Mary's First Nation, Woodstock First Nation and the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs in New Brunswick, would provide a framework for Northcliff to make available funding and in-kind support to all New Brunswick First Nations to assist in their participation in, and facilitate their technical review of, the Sisson project during the environmental assessment process.

Northcliff said the funding was intended to assist First Nations where they felt they needed additional resources to review technical materials and assist community members in understanding technical aspects of the project.

The First Nations of New Brunswick had also received participation funding under the CEAA’s Participant Funding Programme.

Vancouver-based Northcliff in January completed a feasibility study for the project, which gave it a pretax net present value (NPV) of C$714-million at an 8% discount rate, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20.4% and a 4.1-year payback on the initial capital expenditures of C$579-million, at long-term metal prices of $350/t for ammonium paratungstate (APT) and $15/lb for molybdenum.

Sisson would be developed as an efficient bulk-tonnage operation and Northcliff said it intended to undertake value‐added processing of tungsten concentrates by constructing and operating Canada’s first APT plant at the project site, which would add significant economic value to the project.

After deducting tax, Sisson has a C$418-million NPV, which is equal to $5.40 per Northcliff share, based on 77.39-million outstanding shares, a 16.3% IRR and a 4.5-year payback on the initial capital expense.

Located 100 km by road north-west of Fredericton, the Sisson property hosts a 334-million-ton proven and probable mineral reserve containing 22.2-million metric ton units of tungsten trioxide and 154.8-million pounds of molybdenum at an $8.83/t net smelter return cutoff.