Aldershot’s Quebec uranium search gains mixed reviews

Vancouver – Uranium explorer Aldershot Resources (ALZ-V) said it may hold town hall meetings in southwestern Quebec to respond to allegations that its activities may infringe on the rights of cottagers and residential property owners.

“It might have to come to that,” said Don Scott, a technical consultant to Vancouver-based Aldershot, which has staked 345 square kilometres in the Pontiac area about 100 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, hoping to find uranium showings.

As some of those claims cover privately-owned residential properties and at least one golf course, the company is facing opposition from some residents.

“Most people were taken by surprise,” said Richard Vezeau, a Shawville, Que., carpenter and an opponent of nuclear power in the 1980s.

Mr. Vezeau said residents are mainly concerned about claims being staked on their properties and the impact of any mining activity in the future.

“It’s been my home for 35 years,” he said. “I’m not keen to move off and start again.”

The community was alerted to Aldershot’s activities by a letter that appeared in the Nov. 22 edition of The Equity, a Shawville newspaper.

It was authored by Ian Huggett, an environmentalist from Gatineau, Que., who has alarmed cottage owners in the area by alleging that Quebec mining laws give prospectors unprecedented rights to stake on private land without informing the owners.

“Empowered by new rights unleashed by Quebec’s revised 1998 Mining Act, prospectors from the Vancouver-based mining company Aldershot Resources will flood the region with licenses granting them more powers on private land then any other legal authority, including police officers,” Mr. Huggett said in a letter obtained by the Northern Miner.

“Their intent is to enter resident’s properties in June 2007, to conduct exploration work which can be as benign as ground surveying with a scintilometer, to bedrock stripping and excavation.”

Aldershot chief executive officer Jeremy Caddy is traveling in Australia and could not be reached for comment. But Mr. Scott said the company is well aware of the issues raised in Mr. Huggett’s letter and is doing all it can to address them.

“We have people down there talking to people and asking for permission to go on their properties,” he said.

Having acquired its property position, mainly through on line staking, and by striking option deals with local prospectors, the company is operating in a region which was widely explored for uranium in the 1950s and early 1960s.

However, Mr. Scott said Aldershot is very far from being in a position to drill or dig trenches.

“It could be next summer before we get anything going,” he said.

If Aldershot proceeds with its exploration plans, such activities will not concern wood lot owners in the area, said Mr. Huggett, who recently acquired a 100-acre nature reserve in Thorne Twp. But local cottagers may take a different view, he said.

Still, Mr. Vezeau said he is unaware of any united community front against uranium exploration per se.

In an interview, Ross Vowles, the mayor of Thorne, Que., said he would be concerned if any mining activity had a detrimental affect on the value of cottages and the ability of the owners to enjoy their vacation time.the 1980s.

However, he said he will support Aldershot’s ongoing search for uranium if the various government and regulatory authorities make sure it is done properly.”If the resource can be safely extracted, I’m in favor of it,” he said.