from Feb. 25 Halifax Herald
herald.ns.ca
Barren an election issue
Gold decision may cost votes, explorers say
By TERA CAMUS / Cape Breton Bureau
Sydney - If Richard Brissenden has his way, voters in Inverness will make gold exploration at Jim
Campbells Barren an election issue.
The president of Regal Goldfields, which is suing the province for revoking its mineral rights at the
site last fall, believes residents of the Cheticamp area are angry.
"The potential for significant jobs should be the strongest influence here," he said. "The community
appreciates our persistence and I think are very pleased that we're carrying on at least with the
(sites) that we currently have access to."
Mr. Brissenden spent the weekend alking with supporters about his plans to explore six of the
eight sites near Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Two sites are in the barren, but permits to explore were revoked by Premier Russell MacLellan
just before the Nov. 4 byelection in Cape Breton North.
"If anything, I sense quite a bit disappointment or maybe even perhaps anger about the
government decision within the community, and I think we have the support of a large majority of
that Cheticamp area."
That's a sentiment shared by area businessman Clovis Chiasson, a local investor in the project
and member of the Cheticamp Development Association.
"There was a big disappointment in Cheticamp," he said.
"The culture and the people we are - they don't really want to get involved, but still they'd like to
have benefits of whatever comes out in the area. ... Overall, the population was very
disappointed."
He said the disappointment will be reflected in the upcoming vote.
"I know certain individuals that were thinking of not voting at all."
But Tory Leader John Hamm thinks the barren is an issue for another reason.
"I feel that it was the bungling of government that led to the whole controversy," he said.
"The people of Cheticamp have been on a roller-coaster on this one because the economy is very
important. ... Unemployment is a chronic problem, and they were led to believe this might be the
end of that problem."
Local environmentalist Marie Aucoin, who led a petition campaign to get the barren relisted, said
people are happy with the government's decision.
"I had many, many, many people come to me to say they were happy with what I did ... and
afterwards in the community when I went out, I had people coming to me to say thank you so
much," she said. "I really refute the statements that people here were angry, because that's not the
sense I got whatsoever."
In May, the company will begin a three-month $400,000 drilling program east of Cheticamp,
providing 15 jobs to a Truro subcontractor that has its own crew.
If lead, zinc and silver deposits are high, a mine could be developed there, Mr. Brissenden said.
"We're going to persevere on the targets outside the barren ... and we're going to persevere on
our law case."
A court hearing is set for March 11, and Mr. Brissenden is confident the barren will be removed
from the protected list, and that Regal will either get permission to return or receive
compensation.
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