Director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs

Location

Whitehorse or Vancouver with travel as required to the Casino Project and other locations.

Summary

Reporting to the VP, Environmental & Community Affairs, the Director, Environmental & Regulatory Affairs is responsible for leading all activities related to environmental programs, regulatory applications, and compliance.

Responsibilities  

ESE Team Management:

Managing a complex environmental assessment team including external specialists and scientists responsible for conducting scopes of work in preparation for the submission of an Environmental and Socio-economic Statement to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.

·        Drive on the delivery of the ESE Statement on time and on budget.

·        Review all ESE Team scopes of work to ensure compliance with ESE Statement Guidelines.

·        Work with ESE Team to properly schedule all work and ensure that overlapping work is assigned to the correct party and no gaps exist in scopes of work.

·        Weekly/bi-weekly meetings with the ESE Team to provide updates and answer questions.

·        Work with ESE Statement Leads (currently Stantec) to provide oversight to their tools used to track progress and compliance.

·        Schedule, lead, and/or participate in technical working sessions with ESE Team to resolve technical issues and develop key components of the Project.

·        Leading the critical path schedule for all work, including regular check-ins with all members of the ESE Team to track progress.

Budget Management:

·        Leading the environmental budgeting, cost management, and site and corporate reporting activities.

·        Request scopes of work from all members of the ESE Team, review them, and provide feedback to ensure that work is compliant with CMC requirements.

·        Weekly review of all ESE Team budgets in a master Environment Budget, including overall budget, monthly accruals, current spend, estimate to completion, and estimate at completion.

·        Create, review, and/or issue all scope changes or contracts required for members of the ESE Team.

·        Receive, review, and approve all ESE Team invoices, and send to Accounting for payment.

·        Follow-up with Accounting to ensure payment.

·        Ensure proper filing of all invoices, contracts, and budget documents.

·        Deliver internal budget summary presentations for monthly review by senior management.

·        Develop budgets and explanatory notes for presentation to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis, or more frequently as required.

ESE Statement Management:

·        Leading the development and review of environmental assessment documents in collaboration with an internal Project Team and external technical experts.

·        Reviewing technical reports generated by environmental consultants to ensure alignment with corporate goals.

·        Leading the preparation and review of the environmental assessment process and documentation on behalf of CMC.

·        Working the ESE Team to scope out ESE Statement documents, including baseline reports and effects assessments.

·        Working with the ESE Statement Leads to coordinate the review of all documents and deliverables associated with the ESE Statement.

·        Senior review of all technical reports developed by the ESE Team for compliance with CMC requirements, ESE Guidelines, and technical best practices.

·        Ensuring QAQC of final external deliverables.

·        Managing the environmental assessment project, including leading meetings and/or presentations with regulators, scheduling, budget development and tracking, and providing regulatory guidance and advice.

·        Leading recurring meetings with YESAB, MPY, NPMO, and other regulators as required.

Permitting & Compliance:

·        Supervising for the preparation of permit applications and track approvals, or amendments as required.

·        Oversight and/or senior review of all permit applications prepared by Environmental Coordinator or members of the consulting team.

·        Ensure adherence to all CMC permitting requirements and commitments.

·        Liaise with regulatory agencies as required to update permits or obtain new approvals.

·        Complete compliance audits against permit/licence requirements and social obligations, were required.

Camp and Field Oversight:

·        Owning accountability for the environmental program.

·        Approve all field work plans, provide comments, and ensure alignment with overall Environmental budget.

·        Support the Environmental Manager in managing logistics for all field programs, including coordination of required training and orientations, travel planning, and vendor negotiations.

·        Review all health & safety incidents and support the development of corrective actions.

Other Responsibilities:

·          Supporting the Vice President, Environmental and Community Affairs as required.

·          Managing an internal team of Environmental Coordinators, and/or contract staff.

·          Support the External Relations team with consultation and engagement initiatives as required, including the coordination and formulation of responses to First Nations.

·          Support the External Relations team with meetings with government, regulators, and other interested stakeholders.

·          Management of the Environmental Manager and other contract staff, including development of objectives, performance tracking, staff development, scheduling, and day-to-day oversight.

·          Supporting the implementation of ESG metric tracking, as required.

·          Implementing or supervising the implementation of the Environmental Management System (EMS) and its component EMPs and related SOPs, and other environmental requirements, as directed.

·          Performing other duties associated with this position as may be required.

Education & Experience

·        Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, Engineering, or related field.

·        Minimum 12 years related experience, including extensive environmental/regulatory affairs experience with mining operations or resource projects, preferably in Yukon.

·        Experience working with regulators related to new mining projects.

·        Working knowledge of the applicable territorial and federal environmental regulations.

·        Familiar with current regulatory, environmental assessment, and permitting practices.

Required Skills

·        Performing work outdoors in all types of weather, and in an office as required.

·        Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment managing multiple priorities under tight deadlines.

·        Demonstrated high level of interpersonal skills including the ability to develop trust, negotiate, and manage a variety of external and internal stakeholders across all levels and from varying backgrounds.

·        Demonstrated high standard of integrity, ethics, judgement and confidentiality.

·        Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to present ideas clearly.

·        Ability to take initiative and work independently as well as across different levels of the organization.

·        Strong attention to detail and exceptional organizational skills.

·        Ability to identify key technical and business issues and develop innovative solutions.

·        High degree of business acumen and ability to think strategically.

·        Strong leadership skills and ability to build relationship.

·        Proficient computer skills, with advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (Power Point, Word, Excel) and ability to learn new software.