Roundup 2018: AME’s Thome on BC’s mineral politics – by Matthew Keevil (Northern Miner – February 5, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

VANCOUVER — The Association for Mineral Exploration’s (AME) Roundup conference in Vancouver serves as a bellwether for the mining industry as the first major technical event of the new year.

The most-recent iteration featured the typical discussions on metal prices and markets, but it was also marked the maiden mining voyage for British Columbia’s newly-elected, left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) and Green Party coalition government. The NDP-led minority government’s stance on mining in the province remains untested.

Premier John Horgan has been rhetorically supportive of the business, and held over pro-mining initiatives from the previous long-standing Liberal government, including the flow-through share tax framework and exploration credits; funding for Geoscience BC; and provincial sales tax (PST) breaks for electricity used at mine sites.

Meanwhile, B.C.’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Michelle Mungall is working with industry groups — including the AME — on the BC Mining Jobs Task Force.

Conversely, the NDP has taken a relatively combative stance on the oil industry in its approach to the Kinder Morgan (TSX: KML; NYSE: KMI) Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion.

For the rest of this article: http://www.northernminer.com/news/roundup-2018-ames-thome-bcs-mineral-politics/1003793748/?utm_source=NM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NM-EN02092018&e=xr20y4rW20w0380wx8w8w69vpsw0yM2vx