Quesnel-based Cariboo Mining Association (CMA) has sent a letter to the city informing them of policies enforced which, they state, hinder their ability to “grow and prosper.”
The CMA wrote the letter to advise the city of the miners’ concerns.
The letter was also sent to various levels of government, including Premier Christy Clark, Terry Lake (Ministry of Environment), Dick Harris (MP Cariboo – Prince George), Bob Simpson (MLA Cariboo North) as well as Steve Thompson (Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations).
So far, the CMA has not received a response, Arthur Topham said.
“For the past 60 years or longer, the region has been heavily dependent on its forests as the prime source of revenue,” the letter reads.
“Mining is fast becoming a major economic driver for Quesnel and this fact is evident in the growing number of local businesses who are now supporting and sponsoring the CMA as corporate members,” it continues.
However, the CMA feels as though their activities are being hampered by “government red tape” regarding its planning and production.
The letter contains several issues the CMA have pointed out as having room for improvement.
One concern is the “constant threat of fee increases that target established miners”.
Topham said fees are being raised without being justified.
“Mostly they appear to be just arbitrarily done in order to increase funds for the government’s general revenue and aren’t returned to the mining industry in terms of any new improvements,” he said.
Topham is also concerned with the limitations of yardage able to be mined on a cell per season.
“This is probably one of the biggest complaints the miners have,” he said.
Topham explained placer miners must purchase a Free Miners Certificate, then purchase a cell, which is the smallest piece of ground one can stake.
Once you’ve purchased your cell, you stake it and pay a $40 fee to the government.
You can then have that cell for a year, after which, you must renew it and pay another fee.
After paying the fee, the cost of equipment and fuel to run the equipment, miners might make less than $3,000 on $6,000 worth of gold mined.
“What we face as miners is a totally unrealistic restriction on the amount of gravel we can run in a season and this prevents us from working during the entire mining season and actually making a decent living,” he said.
Topham explained that previously, things were more sensible and miners were able to mine more gravel and work from spring to fall and make an actual living.
Another sore point with small placer miners are negotiations with separate levels of government such as First Nations when it comes to obtaining appropriate permits.
“Most of us aren’t knowledgeable enough about all the First Nations politics to deal with this new level of bureaucracy which has been imposed on us,” Topham said.
Miners are expected to pay for studies using out of pocket expenses before they can dig for any gravel when it should be the government negotiating and paying for any studies deemed necessary, he added.
Another issue raised in the letter is the closing of long established placer areas which government “has not been able to rationally or scientifically justify.”
Topham feels miners have been targeted as a cause of Caribou habitat destruction when he said that placer mining is “probably the cleanest industry there is when it comes to work being done out in the wilderness.
“We dig up gravels, wash them in a wash plant and separate the gold from the rest and then fill the holes afterward and level the ground and replant if necessary and move on.”
He says the mining industry has no negative effect on Caribou habitat, whereas the forestry industry destroys millions of hectares.
“The Ministry of Forests go and spray all sorts of herbicides on forests being generated and in the process, these chemicals do damage to all the wildlife in the woods, not just the caribou,” Topham said.
The last complaint listed in the letter is the deactivation of access roads to mineral rich areas of the province.
“We view road accessibility as an asset to the prospector and, ultimately, to the miner, the tourist and outdoor sports and recreation and fishing industries as well,” the letter said.
“We need to be able to drive out on all the backroads to be able to get to the areas where we want to prospect.”
The CMA was established in 1952 to represent hard rock and placer miners.
A copy of the letter is available on the CMA’s website.
