St. Barbara’s proposed 15-Mile Processing Hub mega gold project to undergo federal review!

Unexpected but wonderful news was released late Friday, October 30th, 2026!

Read about the announcement here: https://journalnews.ca/?page=post&ID=2006

The project entered the federal assessment process on July 17th, 2026, with a comment period of only 20 days. During those 20 days, the public managed to submit over 500 comments, with the bulk being critical of the project.

The federal environmental assessment process consists of five stages. Stage one starts as soon as the proponent submits its proposed project description to the federal agency. This, in turn, starts the 20-day comment period. After the comment period closes, the agency uses the project description and the public comments to determine whether the federal assessment should advance through the remaining stages or whether the project will proceed through the provincial assessment process only.

The summer of 2026 saw the creation of the One Project, One Review agreement between the federal government and the Province of Nova Scotia. Many Nova Scotians, along with St. Barbara, may have thought this was a sure path to a less robust provincial assessment. However, the agreement specifically provides for a federal assessment when one is warranted.

In this case, on Friday, October 3rd, the agency decided that this project will indeed proceed through both the federal and provincial assessment processes. This decision comes after considering the comments submitted by Nova Scotians and the lack of depth, foresight and planning in St. Barbara's proposed project.

There have been a handful of procedural changes to the federal Impact Assessment process since the last go-around with the Cochrane Hill Project back in 2018–2022. These changes have streamlined the process, but either way, this is still a much better outcome than deferring to only the provincial EA process.

A small win, and we will take it!