British Columbia Mining

[NYBob]

Kemess mine rejection report sets a dangerous precedent in a
free society: leave it to the lawyers, not the professors
and consultants • Nominations for young mining professor
of the future award »




Scoble’s Kemess Mine Report a “bad day for BC Mining?” or the “ARD Full-Employment Act?

September 19, 2007 in Tailings, North America, Hydrology and hydraulics, About the news, Community relations by jcaldwell

Last night I had supper with some senior folk in the BC mining industry. Their unequivocal opinion was that Scoble’s Kemess report constitutes a “bad day” for BC mining. When I explained that, in my opinion, the basis of the decisions was that ten years of mining income could not offset thousands of years of treating acid mine drainage, they observed that Scoble’s Kemess report constitutes the “ARD Full-Employment Act.” Hence over more self-made bottles of cheap wine, we passed to how the mine could proceed.

For example, I would have to check the Environmental Impact Statement to see how they rejected dry tailings. But that idea was canvassed, if for no other reason that Scoble’s Kemess report has profound implications for waste disposal at the Kensington Mine and the Pebble Mine in Alaska. Not to mention Southeast BC and Montana. I mean, how do you deal with the United States, the Clean Water Act, and a shortage of lakes.?

We also confidently concluded that backfilling the current pit would be the answer were the mine in California. And if Kemess could not economically justify pit backfilling, then maybe it is just too marginal a deposit.

We agreed that analyses that say the Kemess report highlights the need to “funnel a guaranteed share of the resource revenues into Aboriginal coffers,” are far of the mark. While there is nothing wrong with financial funnelling, and while land claims must be settled if BC mining is to prosper, the Kemess report is not ultimately concerned with funnelling. Nor would full funnelling have made a difference to what in essence is a simple equation: ten years of income is too little to offset the cost of water treatment in perpetuity. It makes no difference if you are First Nations, Second Nation (WASP/other born-Canadian), Third Nation (immigrant), or Forth Nation (illegal immigrant.) The conclusion is the same: elementary logic shows that ten years of income cannot provide for centuries of expense.

If the Scoble Kemess report prompts action in response to this type of report, then good may yet come of the report. I quote:

“Mining groups say it [the Scoble Kemess report] is evidence that new rules are needed to cut a piece of the pie for aboriginal groups. In 2005, the industry paid $1.57-billion in corporate income taxes — not counting royalties and other fees — and some of that could be diverted to local communities. That would both ease opposition to mining projects and lessen the need for companies to negotiate individual benefit deals, said Michael McPhie, president and chief executive of the Mining Association of B.C. “We would like to see some form of direct revenue transfer to provide [First Nations] with a long-term, predictable stake in what the project’s long-term economics might be,” he said. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada similarly adopted language this year calling for Canada-wide revenue-sharing deals, an idea it says is “in the national interest” and “long overdue.”

Over port, we agreed that Scoble’s Kemess report does highlight the issue of how to address local opposition to a new mine. Galore Creek is down the same watershed and it is proceeding with full support of the local community. Montana, down stream of local communities who support new mines, opposes new mines. Pebble Mine raises vociferous support and opposition from local people: do you give preference to the rich ranch owner, the impoverished fisherman, or the out-of-work immigrant? Luckily the port was so good we did not need to answer these questions. But getting protagonist from all sides in the same room would make for a full conference. Here are some recent news reports, we would set them to debating, as they debate the future of mining:

Canada’s main Inuit organization has dropped a long-held moratorium on uranium mining in the Arctic, removing one obstacle to developing potentially rich deposits of the radioactive metal.

Uranium mining and refining pose a threat to health and the environment and Canada should impose a moratorium on the industry, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Tuesday.

Peabody Energy affiliates have earned five of 10 major awards for sustainability and stewardship at the 2007 U.S. Department of the Interior’s Excellence in Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The awards recognize innovative efforts to reclaim mined lands for productive rangeland and wildlife habitat, high-yield farmland and wetlands.

Do you have some great before and after mine reclamation photos? If you do, please enter them in OMR’s Mine Reclamation Photo Contest. The purpose of this contest is to recognize exemplary reclamation projects within the State of California and help OMR develop a library of outstanding mine reclamation imagery for presentations and publications.

NDP MP Alexa McDonough is calling on Canada to enact standards of corporate social responsibility in overseas mining operations following a trip to Honduras last week to investigate concerns that some Canadian companies working in Honduras are taking advantage of weak regulations and endangering local residents through environmental contamination.

Northgate Minerals Corp. (TSX:NGX) is likely to ramp-up efforts to acquire properties outside British Columbia after its plans to build the Kemess North copper-gold mine project were soundly rejected by a government advisory panel, analysts said Tuesday.

And so mining returns to normal after release of the Scoble Report. Arguments continue. Politician pronounce. The mining company goes off-shore. The stock market wiggles a little or a billion. And we formulate a new Investment Rule:

Investment Rule No 5: Sell your shares, or at least avoid buying more, when the mine is the subject of an independent panel review.

http://ithinkmining.blog.infomine.com/2007/09/19/scobles-kemess-mine-report-a-bad-day-for-bc-mining-....

Comments feed for this article:
http://ithinkmining.blog.infomine.com/2007/09/19/scobles-kemess-mine-report-a-bad-day-for-bc-mining-....

1.
Its to many polo-tics 666bolshevikz evilz terrorizing -
The American Liberty and Freedom in America! -
(the communistic 666marxistz, trotskyz etc.
should go to russia and stay there!) -

Good politician is neeed! -
(not idiotz) -

Good politicians -
ex.
should pay the travel back to russia for all the 666! -

btw.
the people should stop to vote in guys with feather and
skirtz dancing after 666stalinz gostz pipez! -
(the polo-ticz are only out for a high golden fiatz$pensions -
and high fiatz$wages?) -

All political position should be only voluntary by Honor -
(and not what evilz bed they are sleeping in!).

http://www.888c.com/
Imo Tia
God Bless