Editorial A plan to keep the mining towns going

The following is extracted from a brief presented by the Canadian Associatio n of Single Industry Towns at the recent 44th annual mines ministers’ conference, in St. John’s, Nfld.

“We believe that there is a trend in major mining corporations to not only demonstrate strong corporate responsibility but also to demonstrate a strong sense of community. “Peter White, of Royex Gold Mining Corp., has co me up with an idea we would like to see every mining company in Canada adopt. Mr White said they would like to spend their money in what he believed to be a more constructive way which would promote economic development and stability long after the mine was gone. His idea was that the company would be the mentor or sponsor for one new business each year their mine was operating. He expanded his concept by specifying that the new businesses they help would not be related to mining in any way and would preferably be related to the renewable resource sector.

“The original concept would have staff with business skills already employed by the company providing direct one-on-one assistance to the entrepreneur to help prepare a business plan, access financing and through the start-up phase of his or her business. Mr White said this would be a far better use of the company’s time and money than, for example, the more traditional expenditures on scholarships. We quickly coined a title for the approach, `Big Brother in Business Initiative.’

“How many businesses and jobs would have been created if we had adopted such an idea 25 years ago? Our association would be prepared to work with The Mining Association of Canada to develop this concept more fully and to help test the concept in a number of sites across the country.”

In principle, we’ll have to agree, Mr White’s idea sounds like a good one. It would, at the very least, help to offset the long- standing public perception that the mining industry is generally unconcerned about what happens in a community once a mine’s life runs out. It’s worth looking at the possibilities.