Al2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 17, 2005 Mining minister takes look forward to seeing a lot more of one provincial cabinet minister. © Bill Bennett, the Liberal MLA for the East Koote- - , mays and .appointed to the cabinet as the «minister: for mining in June, says he’s going to spend a lot of time -in the northwest because it is. B.C.’s exploration hotspot. “A lot of time and atten- tion is going to be focussed « on the northwest. I’ll be here © physically and’ working on issues related to the north- | said Bennett. who —- ‘toured the region recently. ~ west,” * “The northwest is leading the province when it comes to exploration.” Bennett, who operated fly-in fishing lodges in the Northwest | Territories and northern « Manitoba~ before obtaining . a law degree and moving to the Kootenays, describes himself as an ad- * ~ vocate for mining. . “ “It’s a $4.5 billion indus- . ~ «try and takes up just .03 per’. ‘cent of the land base in -the ~< province. If done properly, it can generate a lot of jobs for families,” he said. ° Five coal mines in Ben- “hett’s riding alone provide 2,600. jobs directly,. paying upwards of $94,000 a year to workers, the minister added. _ He’s particularily excited about the copper-gold Ga- lore Creek property north of here which is the subject of a .. $25 million-plus exploration ‘project this year by Nova- . __ Gold Resources of Vancou- “ver. - “ay s world-class,” said Bill il Bennett Bennett of the property, adding that its copper value . makes development all. but inevitable. Exploration spending for _ 2004-2005 was $130 million and the forecast this year is. between $150 and $200 mil- lion.’ When. Bennett isn t en- couraging exploration, he'll © be focussed on infrastruc- ture, citing the long-wanted . road from Hwy37 North ‘into the Kemess area ‘and extending the power grid up “Hwy37 as prime targets. “There are.a number of _properties up there looking good and access and power is the key,” he said. ___ Although Bennett’ Ss job is to encourage mining, he’s also on top of coal bed ‘methane natural gas, thanks to several test well projects. underway in his riding. Coal bed methane natural "gas, as its name implies, is found near or in'coal seams and B.C. has just started to said. The only company in interest in northwest - _ TERRACE AND area can probe the potential. - But ‘extracting the gas may also mean extracting large ‘quantities of’ water which may need to be puri- |. fied if it is to be used. Handled properly, coal- bed ‘methane represents a significant potential re- source for the province, said Bennett. . “It’s a fairly. benign re- source, in my opinion,” he the northerwestern area in ; pursuit of coalbed methane is Shell Canada which has rights to explore in the Klap- pan anthracite coalfields. . It. did find methane’ there. last.year but more intenstive work this year has been held - up by the Tah!tan family who lays claim to the Tahltan as its traditional territory. a al an a a -. Bennett was also ‘clear about his political duties as ‘a. cabinet minister. ‘He’s the only: Liberal MLA from the Kootenays . following the May provin- ‘cial election, making him the Liberal government’s key: representative for vari- . ous issues in the region other than the ones concerning his portfolio. It’s a job that will also in- volve the northwest, Bennett — said while here. . “We want to win. this riding again,” referring to the defeat of for- mer Skeena’ Liberal MLA Roger Harris by «NDPer Robin Austin i in May. THE HEAD of the mining industry’ s chief ~-B.C.‘lobby’ group Hopes the Tahltan soon résolve an internal dispute which has lead to a road blockade, stopping companies from . exploring for resources northeast. of here. “Having something like a blockade isn’t helpful, ”” said Michael McPhie of the Min- ing Association of B.C. last week of a group which has prevented two companies from . gaining access to the Klappan area. The blockade went-up in mid July at the start of a road just off of Hwy37 north of Tatogga Lake. It’s being manned by Tahltan who don’t agree with the pace and scope of resource development agieed to by elected Tahitan officials. . The blockade is stopping Fortune Min- erals from completing a feasibility study on anthracite deposits in the area and Shell ‘Canada from continuing work. to determine if there are viable amounts of ' coalbed meth- ane natural gas. "While forestry companies have : a long ’ history of dealing with blockades in B.C., they’ ve not been a common occurence for mining companies. “But I would think the concern is that when you get into disuccsions with ‘an » elected body and do agreements and settle Mining head hopes Tahitan ‘dispute can be resolved | on principles, that part of that i is going: for- ward,” said McPhie. - While McPhie didn’t comment directly on the details of the Tahitan situation, he hoped it would be resolved soon. “It’s important to understand that those companies are in the exploration and envi- ronmental work phase. It seems to be awful early for this kind o thing to happen. There’s lots of opportunity for discussion,” he said. “Disagreement is'a normal part of the hu- man existence but it is how you express that disagreement is what is important. There are . other ways to deal with this.” In the meantime, the provincial govern- ment is counselling patience on all sides as the blockade enters its second month. “There is communication going on on all sides nd we want the dialogue to keep up,” _said Geoff Freer, an assistant deputy minis- ter in the mines ministry. As it is, there are reports that Iskut band chief Louis Louie has asked the people at the’ J block to take it down. said Bennett — _The report was confirmed. by Gordon Loverin, who. handles communications for the Tahltan Central Council, the main elect- ed body of the Tahitan, but neither Louie nor anyone from the blockade were immediately available for comment. day and night, C10Us. 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