Panel rejects INCO’s Voisey’s Bay EIS; speakers warn of environmental and livelihood risks

A review panel rejected INCO’s environmental impact statement for a proposed nickel mine at Voisey’s Bay and required the company to conduct further studies, according to the transcript of the proceeding dated May 1, 1998.

The decision matters because speakers and the transcript describe potential long‑term environmental contamination at Voisey’s Bay, threatens wetlands and spawning channels such as Reed Brook, and could affect the food supply and livelihoods of nearby Inuit and Innu communities, including those in Nain and Davis Inlet.

The transcript says the Voisey’s Bay mineral discovery was made in 1994 and that INCO’s proposed mine and mill complex was expected to be larger than its Sudbury operations. The document reports that the company’s environmental impact statement identified about 40 breeding pairs of the Atlantic harlequin duck in the project area and noted Reed Brook as an Arctic char spawning channel. The…