and putting it into production took 10 to 12
years. Now that could take 20 years.
“Our industry faces more than 50 laws
and regulations. Before the first minerals
are extracted, there can be north of 200
permits that are required,” Mariage said.
This has not escaped the notice of the
government, however — it has launched a
vast review of the regulatory regime in an
effort to facilitate and streamline the pro-
cess.
“Responsible and sustainable develop-
ment and respect of the environment —
those are always core values we share
with the government, but there has to be a
way to facilitate things. Not only does this
increase delays in project development,
but it also increases costs. Working in a
world economy, where the projects are all
over the world, we’re competing with oth-
er jurisdictions so we have to be efficient
as well,” Mariage said.
Doing its part for the environment, the as-
sociation, in collaboration with the Univer-
sité du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
and the government, is working to even-
tually establish certification regarding sus-
tainable practices.
“Environmentally and socially, mining
companies don’t govern themselves the
“Environmentally, mining companies don’t govern themselves the way they did
40 years ago because practices have evolved for the better and for practices to evolve
there has to be regulations attached to that.”
APRIL 2016
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business elite canada
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