The office said Compliance Energy’s application for the Raven Coal Mine in the Comox Valley "does not contain the required information."
The application was in the screening process and set to enter its final 180-day review period, but was instead rejected with a 114-page evaluation of the mine application.
In the review, the government said there were hundreds of application deficiencies including insufficient information about environmental impacts on air quality and drinking water, mitigation of long-term effects from industrial waste and tailings, as well as a lack of consultation with Aboriginal people.
The company has the opportunity to resubmit the application for a second 30-day screening process.
Environmental groups have fought the application since its initial proposal over two years ago and have welcomed the EAO’s decision.
The Wilderness Committee’s Vancouver Island campaigner Torrance Coste said that the EAO had finally acknowledged the serious gaps in information in the application.
“The decision serves to highlight this company's utter lack of commitment to the local communities, First Nations and our shared environment, and is just another indication that this mine doesn't belong on Vancouver Island," Coste said in a statement.
Compliance Energy said on its website that the Raven coal deposit held about 72 million tonnes of measured and indicated coal suitable for the metallurgical and thermal markets.
