The Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities of Greenland has confirmed exploration and development company Bluejay Mining’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Dundas ilmenite to be compliant with guidelines for public consultation purposes.

The EIA, together with the shortly expected social impact assessment (SIA), will enable Bluejay to move into the fixed period public consultation and subsequent preparation of the White Book required for final Ministerial approval for exploitation.

Bluejay CEO Roderick McIllree last week vented his frustration at the delays in the administrative process, but said that the SIA was in its final round of review and that it expected to receive licence application compliance acceptance before the end of this month.

According to consultancy Orbicon|WSP senior project manager Morten Christensen, no major impacts have been identified by the environmental studies that have taken place throughout three years’ worth of baseline fieldwork and surveys of the marine and terrestrial environment.

Orbicon|WSP prepared the EIA for Bluejay.

"The Dundas ilmenite project has been developed to the highest international standards in respect of the Arctic environment in north-west Greenland. This environmentally low-impact project can contribute to the sustainable development of Greenland's economy without any long-term footprint on the unique nature of the area,” Christensen said in a statement on Wednesday.

McIllree, meanwhile, said that the EIA and SIA “demonstrate a high-quality and thorough assessment of the Dundas development”.

“I would like to reiterate that the finding by Orbicon from our EIA submission confirms a simple and low-environmental impact extraction operation is achievable at Dundas and that this is a major milestone in delivering a sustainable project for the benefit of all stakeholders,” he said.

Bluejay traded 3.4% higher at 841p a share on the London exchange on Tuesday morning.