Clearly, bureaucratic gridlock in all of Canada has not reached epidemic proportions if the logical and creative plans of Royal Oak’s Hope Brook mine to add a copper flotation circuit can be accomplished in three months (“Royal Oak ready to take on Windy Craggy,” T.N.M., Apr. 12/93).
Unfortunately, here in Nevada, a similar plan would create havoc in the regulatory community, replete with cries of “needing more staff” or “E.I.S.,” more commonly known as C.Y.A. By the time the land agency personnel get their pencils sharpened, a month has passed and, under the best circumstances, a minimum of six months is required before permission for this type of change would be granted.
State “enviros” then busily question air and water quality issues, as for a professional engineer’s stamp on design plans, and trot out their receipt books for the myriad of fees which such a plan would surely necessitate. And heaven forbid if the cells you buy at auction are a different size than those you showed in your design plans.
Our internal guess would be 12 to 18 months before a plant could be commissioned here in Nevada. It might be interesting, for those of us considering suicide while waiting for approvals, to hear how long others estimate this type of inspiration would take in their locales. Creativeness, productivity and management are being squelched in the name of “community right to know,” at least in the U.S.
D.S. Cook
Elko, Nev.
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