Wagler, J. McNab Valley gravel mine project launched. Coast Reporter, Sechelt, BC. Available from http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20100521/SECHELT0101/305219986/-1/sechelt/mcnab-valley-gravel-mine-project-launched (accessed January 2011).
Recently, Burnco Rock Products (BRP) has proposed a plan to build a new open-pit mine located at McNab Valley, on the Sunshine Coast of BC. The company owns 320 hectares of land in the area, and intends on mining 77 hectares. Additionally, 10 hectares is proposed for storage, buildings and conveyor systems. The plan is to extract more than 30 million tonnes of sand and gravel over a 20-30 year period. The material would be shipped by barge ship to Burnaby (Wagler).
The location of this proposed mine is quite controversial. McNab Creek runs though BRPs property. Golder Associates was the consulting company hired to asses the environmental impact of the mine (Wagler). According to environmental specialist Mark Johannes, McNab Creek is a salmon run for chum, coho, pink and chinook salmon as well as anadromous (fish which migrate from salt to fresh water to spawn) cutthroat and steelhead trout. BRP does not plan on placing the mine anywhere near the creek, but plans on removing an existing artificial groundwater channel. Johannes report claims this channel is ineffective anyway, and BRP intends on replacing it with a more effective one. He is quoted in Wagler's article, “We have five concepts that would more than double the loss of this channel in terms of viable habitat” (Wagler). The area has already been logged, and no additional trees are intended to be removed either.
The Sunshine Coast has a reputation for being environmentally savvy, and many local businesses are based on eco-tourism (Alpha Adventures, Off The Edge, Rockwater Resort). Residents of the Sunshine Coast have had to deal with poorly managed open-pit mines before (Pan Pacific Aggregates mine at Mission Hill, near Sechelt) (Wagler), so BRP is already under heavy scrutiny from the locals. On top of that, the Sunshine Coast already has the largest open pit mine in North America (Big Pacific), located in Sechelt. Near the proposed building site is the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper mill, as well as a sawmill, Terminal Forest Products. Do residents of this area want another giant industry in their once pristine backyard?
As a resident of the Sunshine Coast myself, I have mixed opinions. I respect BRPs interest in opening the mine. As a business based in aggregate, they need aggregate to function. As do we, the residents of the Sunshine Coast. The lives we lead can’t function without mines such as this one proposed. The houses, apartments, condos and buildings we live and work in almost all have concrete. On top of that, we need sand/gravel for everything from building our roads, to lining our septic fields, to filling sand traps and infields, repairing a soccer field or leveling your rocky backyard.
We need these types of mines. But not here. Not in an area already inhabited by two major natural resource industries. The Sunshine Coast already has Construction Aggregates; the scar clearly visible from Vancouver Island. Sorry, BRP. Your mine and environmental promises are valid, but your location is not.
Words: 499
No comments:
Post a Comment