Federal minister upholds contested decision to block arctic uranium exploration
Thu Oct 25, 6:58 PM
ca.news.finance.yahoo.com
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The federal cabinet has upheld a recommendation by a northern environmental regulator that the mining industry fears could sterilize a large and potentially rich chunk of the Northwest Territories to future development and cripple the ability of prospectors to look for new deposits.
In a letter to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board this week, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said he agreed with its recommendation to block Ur-Energy's (TSX: URE.TO) uranium exploration program on the Upper Thelon area east of Great Slave Lake.
"The responsible ministers have agreed to adopt the recommendation of the review board," Strahl wrote.
Last May, the board shocked the mining industry when it denied Ur-Energy's plan to drill up to 20 holes near the Thelon River because it threatens the spiritual and cultural well-being of the area's Akaitcho Dene.
"If implemented, the recommendation of the review board would effectively terminate mineral exploration in an important part of the N.W.T.," three industry leaders wrote to then-minister Jim Prentice after the original decision.
"This would have a very detrimental effect on the investment climate of (the) N.W.T. and the North in general."
The letter was signed by Mike Vaydik of the N.W.T. Chamber of Mines, Gordon Peeling of the Mining Association of Canada and Tony Andrews of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.
Individual companies working in the North also registered strong protests.
"The rationale behind the board's recommendation is such that it appears likely that no mineral exploration activities within the southeast N.W.T. will be possible," wrote Bayswater Uranium president George Leary, one of several mining CEOs who wrote to protest the board's recommendation.
Miners claimed that the board had created a de facto national park without any of the normal consultations.
However, Strahl's decision promised his department would come up with a plan for long-term land-use planning for the area by the end of November.
"It would be an action plan for developing the resources in the area," said Carolyn Relf, the department's director of minerals and petroleum development.
Relf said much work needs to be done to locate the culturally important areas and delineate the valuable ore deposits.
"There has to be some give and take," she said.
Relf added Strahl has also promised renewed efforts to settle the Akaitcho land claim.
That's the key, said Pierre Gratton of the Mining Association of Canada.
"The federal government really has to get moving on this land claim," he said.
Miners also have to work harder to understand the cultural ties aboriginals feel towards their traditional lands, said Gratton.
The Thelon Basin is considered one of the earth's last pristine wildernesses.
Residents from the community of Lutsel K'e described the area as "the place where God began" and "the heart and soul of the Dene."
However, the area drained by the Thelon River, which flows from the N.W.T. into Nunavut, has been the subject of an intense staking rush.
Dozens of companies are prodding the tundra for uranium after prices for the silvery metal grew from $7 a pound a few years ago to over $100 now. They have registered hundreds of prospecting permits, claims and mineral leases - 1,000 such dispositions on the N.W.T. side alone.
The area is also subject to an agreement between Ottawa and the Akaitcho Dene not to make any decisions on the land for five years pending the land-claim settlement. That interim land withdrawal is currently awaiting cabinet approval.
As well, part of the region has been singled out by Environment Minister John Baird for the creation of East Arm National Park near the east arm of Great Slave Lake. |
