Three separate levels of government will conduct environmental impact assessments on a proposed rare earth mining project in Quebec that will require a seasonal road crossing Labrador.

Torngat Metals Limited is proposing the construction, operation and closure of an open pit rare earth mine in northern Quebec about 235 km northeast of Schefferville.

Torngat Metals plans to build a 160 km seasonal road from the mine site in Quebec to the existing port at Vale’s copper mine in Anaktalak Bay on Labrador’s northeast coast.  140 km of the road will cross northern Labrador.

The ore concentrate from the Strange Lake project will be transported by road from the mine site to a new container storage and handling facility at Vale’s port where it will be shipped to a rare earth processing and separation plant in Sept Iles, Quebec.  The provincial government, the Nunatsiavut Government and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada are each required to conduct an environmental assessment of the project.

Comments on the undertaking can be submitted to strangelake@iaac-aeic.gc.ca or to the “Submit a Comment” function available on the Strange Lake Rare Earth Mining Project page of the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry.