How mining figures in the BC election

The NDP and Conservative parties vying to govern British Columbia agree critical minerals projects need to be fast-tracked through permit stages. This week they released their platforms on mining.

Premier David Eby, seeking re-election on Oct. 19 with the NDP, has promised $250 million for communities in the province’s northwest. Like the Conservatives, he’s vowed to speed 16 new or expanded critical mineral projects through the regulatory process.

“We’ll fast-track priority projects to grow the economy and create jobs,” Eby said in a release on Tuesday. “Our plan will get mining projects moving that grow B.C.’s economy, create good jobs across the northwest, and benefit communities directly.”

The Conservative Party, led by former Liberal John Rustad, says it would rescind the NDP’s ban on mining applications for Banks Island and part of Vancouver Island, streamline mining approval times and reform taxes.

“Mining begins with exploration, which itself supports thousands of professional jobs,” Rustad’s party said in a release. “We will reverse the NDP’s unprecedented March 2024 cabinet orders which make exploration effectively impossible in certain areas of B.C.”

Exploration spending

The vote is important for British Columbia, which ranks third in Canada for 2023 exploration spending and hosts Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Elk Valley coal mines, Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) copper assets and the Golden Triangle of yellow metal producers in the far north, like giant Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) investing in the Red Chris and Brucejack mines.

Politicians and miners must also contend with the province’s formal recognition of the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title over a group of islands near the Alaskan panhandle in April. It’s unclear how the First Nation’s control of the use and economic benefits from Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is going to play out over the rest of the province, and the country.

The latest mid-September polls by Leger and Research Co. suggest the NDP in a slight lead with 44%, and the Tories with 42%. The provincial Liberals, which ruled from 2001 to 2017, aren’t considered a factor. The party imploded after 2022 when then-leader Kevin Falcon changed the party’s name to BC United.

The province’s pending critical mineral projects represent $36 billion in immediate investment and nearly $11 billion in tax revenues, according to the Mining Association of B.C.

“We are pleased to see both main parties recognize the urgent need for permitting reform for our industry,” association president and CEO Michael Goehring said in a release on Tuesday. “Together, we can create a streamlined and efficient permitting process that fast-tracks project approval, advances economic reconciliation and partnerships with First Nations, while maintaining B.C.’s world-leading environmental protections.”

Approval times

Quickening B.C. approval times from some 12 to 15 years versus two to three years in Australia requires deleting “unnecessary or duplicative requirements that do not meaningfully contribute to safety or environmental protection,” the Conservative Party said.

Indigenous partnerships and corporate responsibility for mine closure and remediation are also important, the Tories said.

“We will design tougher and smarter protections to ensure that those who build mines are truly responsible for all remediation costs at closure – not taxpayers,” the party said.

The NDP proposes to create a new critical minerals office to help push projects, reduce duplication with the federal government and support ties with First Nations. Eby also wants to improve training programs for supplying skilled labour to the industry and expand the province’s power grid for mines.

“For too long, communities across B.C.’s northwest saw the impacts of resource projects – like more wear and tear on roads and highways, increased demand on local services – but they weren’t seeing enough of the benefits,” the premier said.

“We’re investing money directly back into infrastructure communities like Terrace and Vanderhoof while building up the economy.”

— An earlier version of this story had BC with the highest exploration spending but it was actually third last year behind Ontario and Quebec, according to federal figures. It was second to Ontario in 2022. The Northern Miner regrets the error.