re ae . a ee ko og are an 5p a emapeapp ee an eee me ar en ae “i i. Ty nna oe Ne een eee te ee eee WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1991 ven ion Issue No. 9 ~ Phone 635-7840 Fax: 635-7269 75 cents Serving the communities of Terrace, Thornhill, Usk, Cedarvale, Kitwanga, Meziadin, Stewart and the Nass Valley waeke Sm A LOUD NEW VOCABULARY: Equipped with earplugs and hardhats, Grade 5 students from Clarence Michiel school ventured into the noisy and dangerous world of Skeena Saw- _ mills last Friday as a wrap-up to a classroom unit on forestry. Pe The mill's management team, including Damien Keating with this group, took an hour to escort the classes through an introduc- tion to cutoff saws, debarkers, head rigs, chip-and-cants, gang saws, edgers, green chains and planers. Mine season looks good, official says _ Two strong gold strikes in the north will keep interest in mine development and mineral explora- tion high in the region for 1991, a local economist believes. Andrew Webber, economic deve- lopment officer for the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, recently attended the annual Cordilleran Roundup, a major mining industry gathering in Vancouver. Webber said his perception -was that big gold finds on the Eskay Creek and» Mount Milligan properties will keep exploration in the region at a high pitch despite the stagnant price of gold and the sour state of the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Eskay Creek is a massive sul- phide gold deposit north of Stewart discovered and currently being explored intensively by. Prime Resources. Mount Milligan. is a copper-gold find in the Toodog- gone region northeast of Smithers, developed by Continental Gold. Both properties have drawn a staking rush to adjacent claims, generating high expenditures in exploration. Promising results at Eskay and Mount Milligan have drawn major mining companies, like Placer Dome, into investment and partner- ‘ship positions. "It turned out that 1990 was a surprisingly good year for exploration in the area," Web- ber said. "My sense is that this year the major companies will be playing a bigger role." Webber said three properties that - appears to have mine development potential ‘are Sulphurets, Tenajon SB and Eskay. Sulphurets failed its feasibility study last year but may go if the price of gold recovers. The Tenajon SB find has shown promise in the exploration stage and developer Gulf Intemational has struck an ore processing agree- ment with Westmin, which owns a producing mine at the nearby Premier property. No production decision has yet been made on Eskay, but Webber noted that Prime-Calpine has already begun preliminary work toward the deve- lopment permitting process. GST on victims? Insp. Larry Yeske, officer-in- charge of the Terrace RCMP de- tachment, is checking into a GST concern for the city. During a Feb. 14 city manage- ment-staff meeting, Yeske told city administration that there has been a suggestion by the federal govern- ment that GST should be charged to the city on services provided by the Victim’s Assistance Program. According to the minutes of that meeting, it was felt by both Yeske and city administrator Bob Hallsor that because the service is funded with grants from the city and the province, it should be exempt from GST. The bottom line will be written: in Ottawa. Will the city have to pay tax on money it contributes to a valuable service for victims of crime? BUDGET WITHOUT NUMBERS Trustees wait for instructions TERRACE — The Ministry of Education has blown its own dead- line for the second time in a month for getting budget information to school boards. The board of School District 88 has a draft budget and is waiting for numbers to put beside the expenditure items. Board chairman Edna Cooper said Monday the ministry "seems to be in disarray". Provincial block funding information was released Feb. 8, a week late, and a source in the School Finance Branch said they’re "trying for March 1" to complete budget instruction manuals. The budget instruction manuals, which were scheduled to be received by individual districts Feb. 23, contain the financial information which tells the districts what their actual block amounts _ are. The provincial block amount, an average, is $5,500 per pupil this year, but historically District 88 has received a higher than average amount in its block. Cooper said to her knowledge the district's deadline for approving a final budget — April 20 — has not been changed. The most recent information indicates that if the. board holds a referendum in an effort to increase its funding for the year, the referendum will have to be held April 13 and the board must announce it no later than March 30. When asked if the board is think- ing of going to the local taxpayers for extra money, Cooper replied, "It has been discussed, but we hope to do what we can without a referendum... they're not usually successful." With a block increase of 3.75 percent — less than the rate of inflation. — Cooper is particularly concerned about the effect that the district may feel next year because the block funding system is based — Continued on page Al4 wet ee