Concerns and Questions for Spanish Mountain Gold Project - May 11-22 Virtual Meeting

Thank you for the opportunity to attend the virtual meeting with IAAC and EAO and SMG – you answered a lot of my questions however as a resident on the Lake I still have huge concerns about this mine, especially when you take into consideration that we have a mine the same size a stone’s throw away, Mt Polley Mine.

I would like access to the slides however the EAO did not say how that could be done?

I would like to know how many people attended the virtual meetings, are you able to say if they were residents of QL or not?

Can you please explain in detail what Substitution mean with regards to the Provincial and the Federal approval process?

I would like to know what the footprint of SMG is going to be at the end of 27 years?  SMG is employing the same number of people that Mt Polley employs, are the two mines similar in size?

Where will SMG draw fresh water from? How much water does SMG use / annually? How much will be recirculated for production? How much will go through the RO system? and how much will be discharged into Cedar Creek?

How are you going to address the POSITIVE WATER BALANCE that has plagued Mt Polley? I would like a more detailed explanation of how it’s not going to affect this mine.  I am very concerned about this issue not being addressed properly as in the Mt Polley mine plan.

Did SMG revise its mine plan from 40,000 ton to 20,000 ton to make it easier to gain Environmental approval?

The water treatment systems used for water treatment for this site, is it successfully used on any other mine in BC/ Canada?

Where will the TSF be located and what waterways will it affect – what is the approx. size of the TFS going to be after 27 years.  How much water will be held in the TSF and can we have a more detailed explanation of the process and a comparative to the Mt Polley TSF.  This is to give us assurance that this dam can NEVER fail.  If the TSF is 1 to 1.5 km away from QL I don’t need to be a scientist or an engineer to know that the water will flow into Quesnel Lake.

240 to build and 360 person to operate this mine – This is the same size as Mt Polley Mine which again is a stones throw away!  What will SMG do to address any issues with respect to the small Communities in the area Likely, Winkley Creek, and Mitchell Bay.  What does the Mine anticipate the impact to the area communities will be?  What studies have they done on the area and issues of impact?

Businesses in Likely have already been negatively impacted by Mt Polley Mine what compensation is the SMG mine looking at to accommodate these businesses?  Will there be discussions about compensation for loss of business?

Much is done to accommodate the indigenous peoples that may be impacted – is there any special consideration made for stakeholders within the area being impacted or are we just considered the “Public”?  It is essential that the stakeholders in the area are included in all discussions concerning the approval process of this mine.  We are the communities that will be directly impacted by, construction, noise, pollution, social, economic, environmental issues. What are the benefits to the community from this mine site approval?

In addition, it has been 8 - 10 years since the last SMG meeting in Likely, which doesn't say much for the SMG public consultation.  6 months ago I asked Doug Ramsey to include me and CCQL (Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake) on their community list for information coming out of SMG.  I did not find out about the virtual information meetings from Doug, I found out about it through distant colleagues!! SMG needs to be very transparent about their process with the communities that will be directly affected by their operations.

I would like to be included in the CAC Community Advisory Committee.

Christine McLean (Mitchell Bay Community)

4703 Tiannia Rd Quesnel Lake BC V0L 1L0

403-815-7164