ODDS’N’SODS — Clayoquot Sound and mining

The rabid environmentalists seem to be stymied in their campaign to shut down the logging industry of Clayoquot Sound in British Columbia. The government stands firmly committed to its land-use decision for the area, with solid support from labor, local governments and a considerable segment of the public.

However, it appears that the mineral potential of Clayoquot Sound will be sacrificed on the altar of environmentalism, as was the even-greater potential of the Tatshenshini area (site of the aborted Windy Craggy deposit). Evidently, the decisive factor in land-use decisions for any area is not the future potential of the resources of that area but the extent of the disruption to the existing economy. Without question, the potential of the mineral resources of Tatshenshini is greater than that of the timber resources of Clayoquot Sound, and yet no comparable controversy arose over the government’s decision — made without any public review process — to designate that area as a wilderness park.

Regarding the blockade of the Cream Silver exploration project at Buttle Lake, it should be noted that the nearby Westmin mine received no interference. If it had, the workers concerned and the business people of Campbell River would have been aroused and the blockaders would not have had it all their own way. In that case, they were not threatening an existing industry but preventing the discovery of new discoveries, which would have sustained the industry into the future.

The Bedwell River area is contiguous to Clayoquot Sound and within the former Class B section of Strathcona Park, where there was active mining development long before the park was established. The area was removed from the park in 1987 on the recommendations of the Wilderness Advisory Committee (the government’s means of obtaining public participation at the time). The Parks Branch bureaucrats and their Sierra Club advisers decided the area had been ruined by logging and was, therefore, worthless as parkland. Immediately, there was an outcry from self-styled environmentalists and elite recreationists and the area was returned to Strathcona Park as Class A parkland, which it never was before. No consideration was given to its mineral potential.

Since then, as part of the Clayoquot Sound Decision, another 48,500 hectares have been designated as “protected areas” and closed to mining. The remaining 62% of the land base of Clayoquot Sound is designated as an “integrated resource management area.” This is purported to be available for exploration and development under somewhat obscure conditions which won’t encourage a revival of mining related activity.

An indication of the mineral potential of this area can be obtained from the report prepared for the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable Development Strategy by N.C. Carter. It states there are 150 known deposits and occurrences within the area and lists 15 (exclusive of the two former producers in Strathcona Park already mentioned) with a combined production history of 76,867 tons of ore yielding 125,683 grams gold, 1.9 million grams silver and 1.1 million kg copper.

This mineral potential of the area attracted more than $5 million in exploration between 1985 and 1989. Since then, it has dwindled practically to zero and won’t revive under present conditions. Today, even a proposal to clear a helicopter pad or a drill site has to be subjected to scrutiny by six government agencies and the local native band before a permit is issued. In addition, there is no security of tenure or recognition of the right to mine any deposit that may be discovered and proved up.

— Walter Guppy, a resident of Tofino, B.C., is a frequent contributor to this column. His second book, “Wilderness Wandering on Vancouver Island,” was published this autumn.