New Chair Appointed to Joint Review Panel for Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project

Canada's Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Ontario's Minister of the Environment Jim Bradley today announced the appointment of  Ms. Lesley Griffiths as the new Chair of the three-member Joint Review Panel established to review the proposed Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project in Ontario.

Lesley Griffiths will join panel members David Pearson and Philip H. Byer who were appointed to the Panel on August 9, 2011. Biographical information on the Chair and two Members is available in the attached backgrounder.

The Joint Review Panel Agreement, including terms of reference, along with more information on this project, is available in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca , reference number 54755 and on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment website at www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/ .

About the Project
Stillwater Canada Inc. proposes to develop and operate the Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project north of Marathon, Ontario. This project would involve the construction and operation of an open-pit mine and mill for the purpose of extracting and processing ore containing copper and platinum group metals in addition to other activities.

Ms. Lesley Griffiths - Panel Chair

Lesley Griffiths was Co-principal of Griffiths Muecke from 1980 to 2011. The firm provided consulting services in the areas of consultation and consensus-building processes, environmental impact assessment, resource management, and community development. From 2011 to 2012 she was Executive Director of East Coast Environmental Law, a non-profit organization.  Ms. Griffiths has extensive experience relating to coastal and offshore planning, stakeholder involvement and facilitation, resource developments, waste management, watershed management, recreation and tourism planning, and community development.

Ms. Griffiths has chaired a number of joint federal-provincial environmental assessment panels, starting with the Voisey's Bay Mine and Mill Project in northern Labrador, followed by the Sydney Tar Ponds Remediation in Cape Breton. In 2011-12 she co-chaired the panel for the Lower Churchill Hydro-electric Generation Project. She also served as a joint panel member for the review of the Halifax Harbour wastewater treatment facility. Ms. Griffiths co-chaired the Nova Scotia Minister of Environment's Task Force on Clean Air, producing the Province's first air quality management strategy, and was the Process Lead for the Fundy Tidal Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment. She is currently facilitating the Roundtable for the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Regulatory Review.

Dr. David Pearson - Panel Member

Dr. David Pearson is a Professor of Earth Sciences and a member of the Co-operative Freshwater Ecology Unit at Laurentian University. He is Co-Director of the Laurentian University / Science North Graduate Diploma program in Science Communication, and Senior Science Advisor to Science North, Sudbury`s science centre, where he was the Project Director and then Founding Director from 1980 to 1986.

From 2001 to 2007 Dr. Pearson was Chair of the Ontario Office of the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network and is now science advisor to the Ontario Centre for Climate Impacts and Adaptation Resources. From 2008 to 2010 he was co-chair of the Ontario Government's Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation and ch