EDITORIAL PAGE — A balancing act

Nova Scotia’s mining industry has suffered a series of debilitating blows in the past few years. In terms of human tragedy, the absolute bottom came with the explosion at the Westray coal mine which killed 26 miners in mid-1992. The disaster drove the mine out of business and its owner, Curragh, to near bankruptcy.

Near Yarmouth, the closing of the East Kemptville tin mine was an economic disaster. This was to have been a relatively long-life mine. It struggled valiantly in the face of a collapsed tin market before owner Rio Algom was forced to pull the plug.

As well, there were the closures of the Gays River lead-zinc mine and a Devco coal mine. Several fairly “hot” prospects during the flow-through years never made it to production either.

The reality now is that not a single gold mine or base metal mine of any significance operates in the province. The mining industry, as it is now, consists of 44 active mines, six of them coal operations, with the remainder producing industrial minerals such as gypsum, limestone, salt and so on. With such calamitous events knocking the stuffing out of the industry, one might have thought the provincial government of the day would have considered easing the situation. But no, former Premier Donald Cameron’s government, in one of its last-gasp acts before facing the wrath of voters, announced plans for a mineral exploration moratorium on a huge chunk of prospective ground. In effect, he proposed slashing the potential for finding new mines by cutting the available exploration acreage. The government moved to “protect” into eternity roughly one million Crown-owned acres. This would amount to about 25% of all Crown land in the province.

For industry representatives who cursed the former government’s proposal, a slight (perhaps very slight) glimmer of hope came at the 17th Annual Convention held last week by the province’s mines ministry and its new Liberal government.

The new Natural Resources minister, Donald Downe, told the gathering that his government is less keen on moving as quickly on the proposal as the previous government seemed to be. He talked of striking a balance between mineral exploitation and environmental concerns.

He also noted that his government would pursue a more consultative approach toward the moratorium. This, in itself, would improve matters. Apparently, Noranda hadn’t even been extended the courtesy of prior notice before one of its Cape Breton properties fell into the moratorium category. In fact, Noranda’s representative didn’t learn of it directly from the government at all, but at a Nova Scotia Chamber of Mines meeting.

The new government is also proposing a 20% provincial tax credit on venture-capital projects and $1,000 in travel assistance to prospectors trying to promote their properties. Downe also vowed to convince the federal government to continue its funding of exploration grants up to $5,000 per project.

With the East Coast fishery in horrendous straits, the province should vigorously pursue new revenue-generating opportunities. Mining offers one such opportunity. Let’s hope the new government in Nova Scotia comes to recognize this. Rather than offering watered-down support, it should aggressively court explorationists.