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Mining strategy unveiled |
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Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
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MOUNT MILLIGANFIRST NATIONSTERRANE METALS
It's an effort to help diversify the economy in the face of the coming fallout from the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
The strategy is the first of 12 the coalition is expected to launch by early 2009. The group represents municipalities along the Highway 16 corridor from Prince George to Smithers, as well as Mackenzie.
The mining strategy sets out eight objectives, including building partnerships between First Nations, local communities and governments, boosting regional infrastructure that supports mining and creating an improved and streamlined permitting process. Also on the list is to become a centre of excellence for minerals and mining post-secondary education.
The strategy, outlined in a 33-page document, also sets out a 24-part action plan.
Among the actions is a call to convene a forum for First Nations, local governments and industry to discuss overall development goals and create a mechanism for continuing talks.
It also calls for evaluating priorities for infrastructure improvements, pointing to the need for an assessment of smelter options, upgrading the Mackenzie-Fort St. James connector road and bringing power to the Highway 37 corridor in northwestern B.C.
Also on the list of actions is a call to delay decommissioning of forestry roads and other infrastructure, and determine which priority roads need to be maintained.
The strategy notes that mining exploration spending in the region as grown from $15 million in 2004, 11 per cent of B.C.'s total, to $100 million in 2007, 24 per cent of the provincial total.
"This means we have an opportunity to seize," said Mackenzie mayor Stephanie Killam, vice-chair of the coalition.
Cress Farrow, chair of the Bulkely-Nechako Regional District and a director on the coalition, said diversifying the economy is important because the new jobs will replace those lost in the forest sector. He noted that there is good crossover in skills required in the forestry and mining sectors, so workers should be able to readily transfer to the mining industry.
Farrow said learning institutions will also play an important role.
The mid-term timber supply is expected to drop 33 to 45 per cent in the vast northern and Interior regions hit by the beetle epidemic, with communities like Burns Lake estimated to take an even harder hit, in the most recent analysis from the B.C. Ministry of Forests released last fall.
The decline in mid-term timber supply -- up to 60 years -- is expected to begin in four or five years in some areas.
The Canadian Forest Service has estimated that a conservative 22-per-cent decrease in the timber supply, will cause 600 job losses in Burns Lake and Houston. In Prince George, a conservative 17-per-cent decrease in the timber supply would cause a job loss of 2,900.
Unlike the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition, the Omineca coalition has decided not to put a price tag to its strategy. The Cariboo-Chilcotin group, representing communities south of Prince George, has said $500 million will be needed to help diversify that area's economy.
Elizabeth Anderson, general manager of the Omineca coalition, said the next steps are to figure how to roll out the plan and how much it will cost. "In some cases, large investments have been identified. In others, it's a matter of getting different people together," she said.
Terrane Metals official Glen Wonders welcomed the release of the coalition's mining and exploration strategy. He said it sends a good signal to the industry.
Terrane Metals is working on the $917-million Mount Milligan gold and copper project between Fort St. James and Mackenzie. A recent feasibility study released by Terrane indicated the mine would run for 15.3 years and create 400 jobs.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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