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 Quebec Mineral Exploration Association asked the Quebec government on Thursday for rules that will simplify mineral development and exploration.
A mining bill, which the association has criticized, is working its way through the provincial legislature. The association says that sections of the bill could lead to industry losses of $1 billion in mineral exploration investments.
The association is mainly concerned with some jurisdiction for mining and exploration remaining at the local level. Instead, the association would like to see clear rules across the province for assessing development.
“The Association believes that transferring responsibility for applying and enforcing the Mining Act to an arm’s‐length third party would be consistent with the spirit of sustainable development in Quebec, as opposed to the bill’s clauses that would make 1,200 different entities responsible for assessing the geologic potential, province‐wide economic impacts, and the environmental mitigation measures that would be required for all future development projects,” said the organization in a statement.
As written, the association believes that the mining bill will be harmful.
“The Association clearly illustrated in its brief that Bill 14 is an exceptional one that applies retroactive clauses and that still harms hundreds of mineral exploration SMEs in Quebec.”
Comments
Bill Jackson
The NIMBY effect (Not In My Back Yard) will mean that all local people will object to their civic governing bodies about all manner of exploration and even if local councils finally agree to the project, an enormous delay will impede the project and might make it unprofitable, and if they do not agree, then the exploration land and its accumulated costs of exploration(46% of which has been paid for by the Quebec Government via flow-through) will, in effect, have been confiscated – Lawsuit?
Once passed, jobs will soon start to decline, and what else is there to do in the North of Quebec? The young will move to the cities, houses will be vacant, tax bases will collapse, and so on. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it(Santayana).