Voisey’s Bay work halted

A permitting delay threatens to push back the production date for the Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt project beyond the current projection of late 1999.

A Newfoundland Court of Appeal injunction has put a halt to the construction by Inco (n-t) of a temporary road and airstrip designed to serve its Voisey’s Bay project during the early construction phase, pending an appeal by the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA).

In July, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland allowed Inco to proceed with the work, but the LIA subsequently asked the Court of Appeal to still Inco’s shovels until it could appeal. Upon granting the injunction, the Court of Appeal gave the LIA until Sept. 2 to file its appeal papers.

In making its decision, the court said”this is an instance where it can truly be said that justice delayed is justice denied.”

The case, the decision statement continued,”presents the classic problem of a modern industrial development and the preservation of the permanent residents’ understandable expectation of being able to continue enjoyment of their way of life . . .”

The court concluded that failure to grant the injunction”will cause irreparable harm” to the LIA and the interests it represents, because the road and airstrip could have been completed before the LIA could appeal the Supreme Court’s decision.

According to Robert Carter, spokesman for Inco’s Voisey’s Bay Nickel subsidiary, some trees and brush have been cut for part of the road to the airstrip, but little work had been completed on the airstrip itself. Carter said his company is still assessing the impact of the court decision and would not comment on any possible project delay it may cause.

In a release from the LIA, President William Barbour called the decision a”breakthrough,” saying his organization’s 30-odd protesters will be recalled from the Voisey’s Bay site. Another native Canadian organization, the Innu Nation, has had a much larger group of protesters at the site as well.