Our holiday office hours:

December 23rd: 8:30am-12pm

December 26th: Closed

December 27th: Closed

December 28th: Regular office hours (8:30am-5pm)

December 29th: Regular office hours

December 30th: 8:30am-12pm

January 2nd: Closed

January 3rd: Back to regular office hours

The Review Board is hiring an Environmental Assessment Officer and has extended the application deadline to 5:00 PM MST, Wednesday December 28th, 2011.


Please visit the About Us -> job opportunities page for all the requirements and details about these positions.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Manager, Environmental Impact Assessment is responsible for the planning, direction, coordination and professional oversight of environmental assessments, environmental impact reviews and related Review Board activities.


Please visit the About Us -> job opportunities page for all the requirements and details about the position.



The job competition closes at 5:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time, Friday, September 9th, 2011.

The Review Board is seeking technical advisory services from qualified persons or firms to assist in the environmental assessment of Avalon Rare Metals Inc.’s Thor Lake Rare Earth Element Project.


The Request for Proposals is soliciting expertise to provide the Review Board with technical advice in the following key themes to be considered during the environmental assessment:

• rare earth element mineralogy, metallurgy and environmental impacts – notably radioactive interactions and water quality – associated with the extraction and processing of rare earth element ore;
• mine components associated with rare earth element ore processing including surface-stored tailings and related facilities, underground tailings paste backfill, and waste rock piles;
• surface and subsurface hydrology and hydrogeology; and
• interaction of underground tailings paste backfill with groundwater movement through the mine development area.

Proposals, which include a detailed description of services offered, qualifications of personnel providing the services and associated daily rates, should be forwarded to the Review Board office by 5:00 p.m. (MDT), April 29th, 2011.


A detailed description of the scope of work is available by downloading the attached RFP document or by contacting Martin Haefele, Manager of Environmental Impact Assessment at the Review Board.


Martin Haefele

Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

P.O. Box 938 #200 Scotia Centre

5102-50th Avenue

Yellowknife, NT X1A 2N7

Tel: (867) 766-7053

Fax: (867) 766-7074

Email: mhaefele@reviewboard.ca

Please see the attached media advisory indicating the Review Board will release its Report of EA and Reasons for Decision for the Prairie Creek Mine proposal at 4pm (MST) on December 8 2011.

The Review Board is pleased to announce the release of an external report it commissioned into the environmental assessment process in the Mackenzie Valley. The report was prepared by Stantec Consulting Limited and focuses on opportunities to improve the timeliness of the Review Board’s environmental assessment process.


The report was commissioned as the first step in the Review Board’s work to address criticism by industry and others that the regulatory system governing land and water resources in the Mackenzie Valley is increasingly complex and lengthy. Stakeholders have raised concerns that environmental assessments have now become onerous for all participants from the perspective of work load and available resources. The Review Board is very aware of those concerns and made timeliness of the environmental assessment process the top priority in its most recent three year strategic plan.

Complimenting existing regulatory improvement initiatives

The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act establishes three progressive stages of environmental impact assessment of which environmental assessment is the middle step. On average, typical environmental assessments are becoming longer and more detailed and may have surpassed the original expectations of the comprehensive land claims agreements and the legislation for the middle stage between preliminary screening and environmental impact review.


Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada announced Northern Regulatory Improvement Action Plan is addressing regulatory improvement from a broader perspective, and includes process clarification and efficiencies that can be gained through legislative amendments. The Review Board is complementing the Northern Regulatory Improvement Action Plan with its own set of internal process improvements. The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act allows for considerable flexibility in the process and the Review Board has the latitude and authority to make changes to its processes.

The Mackenzie Valley Review Board’s response

The first step the Review Board took was to hire Stantec Consulting Ltd. to provide its perspective on improving timeliness in the environmental assessment process. By hiring Stantec, the issue of process timeliness was examined with “new eyes”.


The Stantec Report is now completed and is attached and available for downloading here. In its report, Stantec identified several areas with room for improvement. Some are within the Review Board’s control, others require collaboration of parties, and some involve legislative change.


The main recommendations focus on improving scoping efficiency, developing a defined process for referrals to environmental impact reviews, developing environmental assessment processes for large versus small projects, improving guidance materials and implementing rules based timelines.


The Review Board is reviewing Stantec’s recommendations along with its own internal analysis and will initiate improvements it feels are appropriate and within its authority to change. There will be improvements that can be implemented in the short term while others will require more time. More information on the nature and timing of process improvements will be shared with stakeholders in the coming weeks.

The Review Board has released the November 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!



--- Topics include: ----

• Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta Environment
• Staffing announcement
• Updates on assessments and reviews

The Review Board has released the September 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!



--- Topics include: ----

• Best of luck Martin!
• Public hearing rescheduled
• Updates on assessments and reviews

If you wish to receive email notifications for future newsletters, please sign up in the newsletter form at the bottom of this page: Email subscriptions

The Review Board has released the July 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!



--- Topics include: ----

• Prairie Creek Mine public hearings
• Updates on assessments and reviews
• 2010-11 Annual Report

The Review Board has released the May 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!


--- Topics include: ----

• Welcome Darha Phillpot and Melissa Camsell
• Updates on assessments and reviews

The Review Board has released the March 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!


--- Topics include: ----

• Updates on assessments and reviews
• Quorum issues

The Review Board has released the January 2011 issue of its Valley Talk Newsletter!

Clich **[here][1]** for html version

--- Topics include: ----

• De Beers submits EIS for Gahcho Kué project
• Consultant hired for internal process review
• Updates on assessments and reviews

[1]: http://mackenzievalleyenvironmentalimpactreviewboard.cmail1.com/t/ViewEm...

This is a reminder that the hearing for the Debogorski Mineral Exploration environmental assessment is happening today!


Date: October 12th

Time: 9 am - 4 pm

Location: N'dilo gymnasium

Webcasting will be available for this hearing.


Attached is the draft agenda for your reference.


You can listen live here: Debogorski Audio Webcast

For more information, please contact:

Darha, Phillpot, Environmental Assessment Officer

867-766-7066

As per section 126 (1) of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, the Review Board is beginning an environmental assessment of Alex Debogorski's proposed Diamond Exploration Project in the Drybones Bay area.


The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board referred this proposed development to the Review Board for an environmental assessment on the basis that there is likelihood that the proposed development might be a cause of public concern.

The Review Board has set-up a public registry which can be found online here: Diamond Exploration Project EA1112-001


For further information, contact:

Darha Phillpot, Environmental Assessment Officer

Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Box 938, Suite 200 Scotia Centre, 5102 50th Avenue

Yellowknife, NT X1A 2N7

Phone:(867) 766-7066

Toll Free:1-866-912-3472

Fax:(867) 766-7074

Email: dphillpot@reviewboard.ca

The Review Board is pleased to announce that it has released its 2010-11 Annual Report. Inside the report, you can read about all the assessments, impact reviews and strategic initiatives the Review Board worked on over the past fiscal year.



As part of our commitment to reduce our paper use, this document is only available in electronic format. You can download a copy from reviewboard.ca in the Reference Library -> Corporate documents -> Annual reports and strategic planning or from this news item.

The Review Board has completed its triannual strategic planning process.

Attached is a copy of the Review Board's 2011-12 to 2013-14 strategic plan.