The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.
John Scott is from the Thunder Bay Geological Services
Re Government Move Surprises KI; Huge Chunk of Land Near Reserve Off-limits to Mining — CJ, March 6:
Once again the Government of Ontario has failed the people of Ontario and has failed the only industry in the province that is still (?) viable enough the drag the province out of its economic tailspin. The problems with KI are not so great that Premier Dalton McGuinty has to use a club of this proportion to appease the handful, and it is a handful, of KI squeaky wheels.
While generally the area still has to be explored, we know enough of the area to indicate that the mineral potential is conducive to exploration. This is based on the magnetic characteristics of the rocks as well as the geology of the area. The potential for deposits of gold, base metals, copper, nickel and the platinum group metals to be found within the area withdrawn from staking is very high. The development of these Ontario resources would have benefited the entire province; now these potential resources have been removed from the economy of the province to the detriment of all.
What would the people living in the Toronto-centered area say if the government did not allow any exploration or development of any kind in an area equivalent to the KI withdrawal centered over Toronto? If it was centered on the Thunder Bay area, and depended on how the area was positioned, there would have been no silver mines that opened up the hinterland, no economic spin-offs from the silver mines, no Lac des Iles Mine and all the wealth it generates, no lead-zinc mines in the Dorion area, no Shebandowan mine, no gold exploration in the area, and the activity generated by the Magma Metals deposit just northeast of the city would not exist. There would be no gold mining in Beardmore and no Mattabi Mine at Sturgeon Lake.
Our standard of living depends on mining. Everything we do and use depends on mining. Mining generally has always abided by the rules and regulations of the day; today these rules and regulations are more stringent and the mining sector has abided by them. Mining these days is a very high-tech industry generating enormous new wealth with complete respect for the environment.
However, this gross mismanagement of Ontario resources is further incentive to actually conduct mineral exploration in a Third World country rather than wait for McGuinty to create one here.