the comment period for this licence renewal application ended on May 12, 2005. I am currently looking at drafting the licence and have some clarification that is needed prior to completion.

-Supplementary Questionnaire indicated a multi-year project, and the dates provided were from April 05 through to April 07; however the application (Item 15) indicated dates of March 05 through to December 05? but indicated a multiyear project? Clarify. The Spill Contingency Plan also indicated April through December 05.

-Water Source - Domestic; Q26 of questionnaire;600 metres from Camp? Item 11 of application;The source is not actually identified as it is for the drilling. Is this directly from Ferguson Lake as per previous licence/application.

-camp size; Executive summary indicates a camp to allow for 25-30 persons, the questionnaire indicates max capacity of 30 which max on site at any given time to be 15-20; whereas the water use is calculated based on 15 persons (720Lpd/48Lpdpp=15 persons)

-Water Source - Drilling; Q26 of Questionnnaire and Item 7 of Application; 43,200L/day water use for drilling. Is this a total water use required for drilling or is this a per drill requirement and if so, how many drills will be operating (need to know a maximum vol/day requirement for drilling)? The only reference that could be found was under the description of the Diamond Drill sites in the A&R Plan that indicated there were three drills on site and "one or two" would be used during the drilling campaign.

-Page 3 of the A&R, under "Drill Cuttings/Sumps" mentions that Lake holes would be cemented. This is the only place that there is mention of lake drilling? Q18 does not indicate drilling on ice? Was this an oversight? or an error in the A&R Plan?

Within the comments received (see ftp link ftp://ftp.nunavut.ca/nwb/NWB2%20EXPLORATION/NWB2FER/ ) from GN and EC, it was noted again (similar to the 2003 application) that considerable deficiencies were present in the Spill Contingecy Plan submitted. DIAND hadn't responded, however the items listed in the GN response are nearly verbatim of the 2003 response from DIAND. These items need to be included/revised within the current document in order for it to be a functional plan in Nunavut. As it appears as though these items were never fully addressed in through the 2003 Licence period, it may be necessary to have them addressed prior to issuance of the 2005 renewal. If you require more information on the preparation of the SCP, I could send you an example or two of other plans submitted. One such plan is still on the nwb ftp site at the following link:

I plan on having the draft licence ready for review Monday morning, therefor if the clarification and information requests above could be forwarded at the earliest possible time, that would assist me in finalizing the draft. If you require any further clarification on the above, please give me a call at the NWB office (867.360.6338) at your convenience.