GUEST COLUMN (May 04, 1992)

I can’t recall a more scary period of government mineral policy development in British Columbia than the month of March, 1992.

Early in the month, the British Columbia government changed legal counsel involved in the B.C. Supreme Court rejection of the Gitksan-Wes’suwet’en Nation’s attempt to establish ownership and control of an area of northwest B.C., the size of Nova Scotia. Some people feel the new counsel is sympathetic to aboriginal land claims and may not forcefully argue all issues raised in that case during the appeal now rescheduled to begin May 4.

On March 19, a research paper titled “The B.C. Mining Industry: Key Issues for the 1990s” was published. The paper is the result of interviews with mining industry executives, surveys of public and media knowledge and sentiment and confidential discussions with senior government officials. Most discouraging is a section where “government officials said it is easier to turn down 500 non-existent mining jobs than it is to deal with 500 unemployed loggers, and the notion that the current government will have to allow new mine development in order to generate revenue was emphatically refuted.” On March 25, the government announced new studies for a proposed garnet project in the Apex Mountain recreation area. The long overdue go-ahead decision will now be subject to studies because the government wants to determine whether or not a deposit is viable before giving approval for development.

On March 26, 1992, the provincial budget included an announcement that effective July 1, all recording fees and the annual mining lease rental would be doubled to $10 from $5. The government also announced a new sliding-scale Notice of Work fee. Government estimates the cost of the new fee systems during the next fiscal year to the mining industry to be about $2.5 million. The Mining Association of British Columbia estimates the costs to the mining industry of the corporation capital tax announced in the budget to be $12 million. The cost of the corporation capital tax to junior mining companies has yet to be determined but there undoubtedly will be additional annual costs whether or not an individual company has revenue.

On March 30, a legislation discussion paper titled “Reforming Environmental Assessment in British Colum-bia” was released. The main theme is the dissolution of all enabling project assessment legislation, including the Mine Development Assessment Process, and creation of a new Environmental Assessment Act under the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. Some recommendations of concern to the mining community relate to review cost recovery, First Nation membership on project review committees, participant funding and a permanent Environmental Assessment Board to hold independent public reviews. Of great concern is the section on project justification with recommendation 13 (are you superstitious?): “For private sector projects, justification should be limited to projects where the proponent is seeking public funding assistance or where significant Crown-owned resources are significant.” The Crown owns all subsurface resources.

In a press release dated April 1, 1992 (close enough to March), the government announced establishment of a commission of inquiry into compensation for holders of forest and mineral rights. Legislation was being drafted “to freeze any legal actions or awards during the inquiry” — another stalling procedure in an ongoing effort by the government to avoid paying reasonable compensation for breaking contracts with natural resource holders. To top this all off, upon returning April 2 from the PDAC annual convention in Toronto, my mail included a request for funding from Greg McDade, executive director of the recently incorporated Vancouver based Sierra Legal Defence Fund.

— Jack Patterson is managing director of the B.C. & Yukon Chamber of Mines.