Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
The Mining Association of Nova Scotia is calling on the provincial government to strike a better balance between protecting jobs and protecting land.
“While Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry supports protecting natural lands for future generations, we also believe the provincial government’s Parks and Protected Areas Plan needs to strike a better balance between protecting land and protecting jobs,” said Sean Kirby, Executive Director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS). “Beautiful, natural lands are important, but so are job creation, economic opportunity and government revenues to pay for programs such as health and education.”
MANS has just released a new report which shows that the Parks and Protected Areas Plan is potentially costing Nova Scotians approximately 291-356 jobs by preventing mineral exploration and development in protected areas. That is $16-$19.6 million per year in lost wages and $22-$27 million in foregone economic activity each year.
The Plan disproportionately harms some parts of the province. For example, Cape Breton contains 30 percent of the total amount of protected land in Nova Scotia, even though it only contains 19 percent of the province’s land mass. Also, Cape Breton has 154 known mineral occurrences that are overlapped by protected land, which makes it harder, or outright prevents, exploration and development of all that potential wealth.
Cumberland County has 51 overlaps between known mineral occurrences and protected land; Colchester has 43 overlaps; and Halifax County has 23. Across the province, 5.5 percent of all known mineral occurrences are overlapped.
The full report, entitled “A Better Balance: How we can protect jobs and land for Nova Scotians,” is available at: tmans.ca/protected-lands.
The Mining Association of Nova Scotia proposes a modest policy change that would strike a better balance between protecting both natural lands and economic opportunity.
A “land swap” mechanism should be added to the protected lands regulatory regime. This would allow mining and quarrying companies to access protected land by purchasing land of at least equal size and ecological value outside of the protected areas and arranging for it to be protected instead. This would ensure that the total amount of protected land remains the same or grows; the ecological value of protected lands remains the same or grows; and Nova Scotians would continue to be able to access the minerals they need to create jobs and grow the economy.
“While we all appreciate the importance and beauty of natural lands, and everyone wants to protect the environment, we also need to protect jobs and opportunity,” said Kirby. “A little flexibility in the Plan would help us find more new mines and create more jobs for Nova Scotians.”
Based on a plan established by the previous provincial government, Nova Scotia has already protected over 12 percent of the province’s land mass and the government intends to bring the total to 13 percent. This would put Nova Scotia in second place nationwide in removing land from economic usage, despite being the second smallest province and a province with some of the biggest economic and demographic challenges.
Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying employs 5500 Nova Scotians and generates $420 million per year in economic activity.
