The McGuinty government's plan to protect the Northern boreal
forest has left leaders in the mining and exploration industry wanting
to know more.
In July, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that half of the
province's Far North boreal forests, some
225,000-square-kilometres, will be set aside for permanent protection.
The government says it will work with scientists, First Nations,
communities and the resource industry to "create a broad plan for
sustainable development."
Ontario Mining Association (OMA) spokesman Peter McBride says the
Premier's "surprising" announcement was wide-ranging in
language but short on specifics.
McGuinty's conservation-oriented pledge covered a broad range
of topics including climate change, endangered species, modifying
Ontario's Mining Act and relations and revenue sharing with First
Nations.
"This announcement was wearing a whole bunch of sets of
clothes that I don't think go together," says McBride, whose
group represents 59 mining companies, suppliers, consulting firms and
research organizations.
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While there is no immediate impact on their mineral-producing
members, McBride says "there's concern about what it means for
the future."
Though the government is far from determining what particular areas
will be protected in this country roughly north of the 51st parallel,
the process is expected to take 10 to 15 years.
McBride says it could take longer since there's a lack of
"accurate and reliable" data on what natural resources,
wildlife habitat, and even basic community infrastructure is up there.
"It's going to be an open-ended process that's going
to take a long time."
McBride says industry has been one step ahead of Queen's Park
on the revenue sharing front with 40 impact-benefit agreements signed
between miners and First Nation communities.
Thunder Bay prospector Garry Clark says if the province is
committed to mapping the Far North and taking action on reviewing the
Mining Act, "we're happy the government is finally moving
forward on this."
Some of this scientifically - based data collection of the region
has already been started under the Northern Boreal Initiative.
As head of the Ontario Prospectors Association, Clark says any land
use planning that removes the uncertainty about Ontario as a favourable
mining jurisdiction is good for investment.
"If we're involved from the beginning, I think it
mitigates any loss of high potential mineral lands."
Though curious about what areas will be protected, he doesn't
expect huge swaths of land to be closed off to exploration.
"We don't see a change in the way we operate there. It
didn't say we can't stake claims. It's a green light to
still explore and mines take a long time to develop anyway."
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He expects the province will back up this kind of effort with a
large-scale geological study to determine where the best mineral
deposits are.
Many remote communities are lobbying for all-weather roads which
may cross into ecologically sensitive areas. Proper planning between
mining, forestry and environmental interests can create a road network
between future mineral deposits that can benefit all, Clark says.
"Ecological stuff doesn't trump good rocks and vice
versa."
Clark says the industry has plenty of common ground with the
environmental movement in working toward more conciliatory and practical
solutions.
"The days of us throwing rocks at each other are gone. They
garner a lot of public support, so we try to work with them."
He supports revenue sharing for First Nations as long as it's
drawn from taxes already assessed to mines.
www.premier.gov.on.ca
www.oma.on.ca
www.ontarioprospectors.com
By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business
COPYRIGHT 2008 Laurentian Business Publishing,
Inc. Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights
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NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.