Boreal plan could be bad news for miners

Mining, forestry and all other kinds of development will be banned from nearly half of Ontario’s northern boreal region, the Ontario Liberal government has announced.

The move will be a strike against the economy, says Jon Baird, president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

“It’s an odd announcement at this time when the economy of the province is weakening and when the best performing sector in the province, arguably, is mineral exploration,” Baird says. “We are leading the country in mineral exploration with expenditures of $500 million a year — that’s five per cent of world expenditures.”

Ontario Premier Dalton Mc- Guinty announced the plan, intended to protect at least 225,000 sq. km of land in the province’s Far North.

About half of Ontario is covered by boreal forest totalling about 500,000 sq. km; half of that is Crown land. In Canada, there is 2.9 million sq. km of boreal forest.

The government says one of the reasons for its new initiative is its concern over global warming — the region absorbs about 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

It said that scientists, First Nations and Metis communities will work together to map and permanently protect a network of conservation lands across the Far North.

But Baird wants to know how the selection of land will be made.

“Mining people are as concerned about the environment as most people, so that’s not a factor here,” he says. “Mining needs large areas simply because we don’t know where we’ll find a deposit.”

The government says it will work with northern communities and resource industries to create a plan for sustainable development.

Changes to Ontario’s mining act are expected to be introduced in the fall, including the requirement of early consultation with and accommodation of local aboriginal communities.

McGuinty says the move will allow the province to better control future development in northern Ontario.

“Change is inevitably coming to these lands,” McGuinty said in a statement. “We need to prepare for development and plan for it.”

About 24,000 people live in remote communities in the region, which is well beyond Ontario’s network of highways and rail lines.

The area is also home to more than 200 sensitive animal species.