MINER DETAILS (June 15, 1992)

When Wood Gundy decided it was going to open its doors to the media more than it had in the past, it picked a tough issue to start off with.

Analysts at the usually secretive brokerage firm invited fund managers, who collectively control millions of dollars, to attend a half-day session on mining and the environment. It’s a well-worn subject, but a veritable mine field when addressing investors who are not particularly mining-oriented. The danger lies in reinforcing all the negative images that haunt the mining industry rather than honestly addressing issues facing investors. Ric Careless, executive director of the environmental group Tatshenshini Wild, stole the show at this gathering, but it’s a tribute to the way the mining industry has been able to handle the issue that he didn’t come in with guns blazing, despite the presence of reporters ready to lap up any spilled blood.

“There’s a level of professionalism in the environmental movement you can deal with,” he said, trying to allay fears that opposition to mining was only from a fanatic fringe group.

His was an informal but slick presentation on why his group and some of the world’s large environmental organizations were bent on stopping development of Geddes Resources’ Windy Craggy copper-cobalt-gold deposit in northwestern British Columbia.

Essentially, he said developing Windy Craggy poses an unusually high risk to a unique natural environment because of the danger of acid mine drainage. Windy Craggy, he said, is not the rule when it comes to environmentalists’ efforts to control mining in British Columbia, it’s the exception. Appease us by giving us this one, he said, and we’ll co-operate on virtually all the other mineral deposits in the province.

But Careless didn’t tell the whole story. He repeatedly said environmentalists want to avoid the confrontation that has plagued the forest industry for the past decade because no one wins. But environmental groups like Tatshenshini Wild have a vested interest in confrontation and publicity — they depend on them to help raise funds.

Careless said it was only because of the exploration work in the area that environmentalists became aware of what a natural treasure the area is. In other words, explorationists may go where environmentalists have expressed no interest, but run the risk of facing opposition afterwards. Windy Craggy would be the precedent.

That sounds suspiciously like the thin end of a wedge to me.