Mining Week in B.C.
We will rock you.
It’s the lyric made famous by Freddie Mercury and Queen. It has even been played at a Canucks game or two.
But just recently it was the slogan for this year’s Minerals North conference held in Stewart. On behalf of all MLA’s in the legislature, I was honoured to welcome mining leaders from across the country: exploration companies, suppliers, scientists, local government and First Nations representatives.
It’s a fitting slogan, not just because it happens to be Mining Week in B.C., but because the rock in our region is drawing a lot of attention.
The mood is upbeat due to the some of the best commodity prices on record. This makes for a very promising exploration season in the northwest, and an improved sector outlook over the next several years. The significance of the region to the province, even the country, was noted by a number of the expert speakers.
Yet that enthusiasm was tempered by concerns about a lack of resources in the permitting, monitoring, assessment, cumulative effects and First Nations consultation areas of the government that deal with mining. As was pointed out, this could hinder the ability of the sector to react quickly, and to develop in an orderly manner, to the bump in commodity prices.
It is why I spoke in the legislature about the negative impacts of the cuts made to the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
Aside from industry, there was also positive news from GeoScience BC who will invest $3 million in a data-gathering exploration program in the northwest this year. It is this type of valuable work from this publicly-funded body that has spurred private sector investments when conducted in other parts of the province. As deputy chair of the bipartisan finance committee of the legislature, I supported a recommendation that its activities be further funded after 2011, but so far the government has not allocated it any further funding.
Lack of investment in the mining ministries and in GeoScience BC is problematic and short-sighted for our riding of Stikine and for all British Columbians.