The approval with amendments of the terms of reference for Noront Resources' Eagle's Nest Mine is a sign of real progress in developing the Ring of Fire asset, says company president and chief executive officer Alan Coutts.

Noront now has "the clarity and the endorsement" it was seeking from the Government of Ontario to move ahead with work on the project, Coutts said Monday.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray announced Friday his ministry was giving a qualified approval to Noront's terms of reference, the first step in the environmental assessment for the nickel, copper and platinum group element mine.

Noront submitted the terms of reference to the ministry in 2012, revised them at the ministry's request and resubmitted them in December 2013, and has been waiting for approval to move ahead since.

The new round of amendments wasn't completely unexpected, especially the technical ones, said Coutts, who couldn't say how long it would take Noront to do the work on those amendments.

But his company is in a much better position than it was at the beginning of the year with this approval.

"Six months ago, we didn't have terms of reference with amendments and we didn't have the Cliffs properties and we didn't have our exploration permits," said Coutts. " Now, we've got all those things so it's definitely progress."

Noront acquired Cliffs Natural Resources chromite assets in the Ring of Fire earlier this year, making it the largest player in the Ring.

When a mining company sets out to permit a project, it first completes a description of what that project will look like and how it envisions it.

Then it drafts terms of reference from an environmental point of view to support the project as the company has defined it, said Coutts.

While Noront was waiting for a decision from the ministry on those terms of reference, it hired environmental firm Knight Piesold Consulting to do some of the environmental work studies contained in the terms of reference.

So, while Noront has at times been frustrated with how long it has taken to get to this point, it has completed much of the work that supports the terms of reference it had proposed.

Knight Piesold conducted baseline studies, one of the most important elements of an environmental assessment, and sampling at the mine site and in the area Noront is proposing to build a road corridor.

When the consulting company finished the work, Noront still didn't have approval from the province.

They sent the revised terms of reference to concerned stakeholders such as neighbouring first nations, the federal and provincial governments, and environmental organizations.

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, meanwhile, announced last year it had reached a regional framework agreement with Matawa First Nations near the Ring.

Coutts told The Sudbury Star in January that his company could continue its consultations with first nations while that ministry was fleshing out the details of that framework agreement.

Coutts said the current amendments call for an approach involving First Nations he called "novel" but he said his company "is OK with that."

Noront always expected to conduct the environmental assessment in conjunction with communities. "Now we've been given some specific outcomes the province would like to see" and a process to follow, said Coutts.

"So, it is good. And now we've got the formal rest of the story to do, and that's where we are right now."

Noront's is the first mine that will be developed in the Ring of Fire, located 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay.

Because of that, "lots and lots of people were weighing in and there's lots and lots of thoughts about how it should get done," said Coutts. "And that's to be expected. When you're leading the pack, sometimes you've got to do a little bit of extra work."

The most important permit to get when developing a mine is the environmental one, said Coutts. Once you have that, it is easier to get the other approvals and regulatory permits needed.

"This is the grand daddy," said Coutts of the terms of reference for the environmental work, "and once that's complete you can apply for all these other ones ... in support of the work you're going to do."

When contacted Monday, Coutts said officials with his company were sitting down determining how to complete the amendments - the time it will take, the cost and who will be involved.

"But now that I know what I have to do, I'm in a heckuva lot better position than I was last week when I didn't know," he said.

He called Friday's announcement a significant step.

"The government is prepared to permit the first project in the Ring of Fire and has established the ground rules as to what's required and that is the clarity we were looking for."

Now the project is essentially in the control of Noront and "we'll take it from here and that's a great position to be in."

Michael Mantha, the New Democrats' Northern Development and Mining critic, agreed ministry approval of Noront's terms of reference, with amendments, was a step in the right direction, although he said it was a long time coming.

After Noront filed those terms in 2012, it "didn't sit on its hands," said Mantha, but instead began building a solid relationship with First Nations.

Still, if the length of time it took the Liberal government to approve the terms of reference is an example of how long it will take to get permits, "it will be difficult to get any advancement on this," he said.

carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/06/23/approval-sign-of-progress-noront