A& - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 28, 2001 TERRACE STANDARD Business REVIEW Gary Livingstone Miners hoping for new gov't B.C. COULD quickly re- gain its former position as one of the best places in the world to prospect if vo- ters dump the NDP and in- stall a B.C. Liberal gov- ernment, says a mining in- dustry spokesman. Gary Livingsone, presi- dent of the Mining Asso- ciation of B.C., says he’s confident a B.C. Liberal government will quickly bring in policies more fa- vourable to mining and ex- ploration. “| believe it will happen,” said Livingstone, who was here Thursday to speak to a chamber of commerce luncheon. “(The Liberals) will need to grow government reve- “The funds to pay for things like health care are going to have to come from somewhere.” He said B.C, was once among the top spots for mining, but has plutnmet- ted to being among the least attractive areas glob- ally because of the regula- tory maze here and the province’s record of block- . ing mine development. But that could quickly be reversed. with policies that ensure investment se- curity and faster approval of mines. The key to that, he said, is a change in man- date for the environment ministry to “find ways to make things happen, not keep them from happen- ing.” The right changes, he said, could generale 20,000 direct industry jobs and $4.2 billion worth of new mine development over the next .10 years. Aside from the immi- nent election, Livingstone said there are also other reasons why mining pro- spects are looking brighter. A federal tax credit that helped foster the mining heyday of the late-1980s has been revived by Olta- wa. That should give a sig- nificant kick-start to ex: ploration, he said. Depressed mineral prices may have stabilized and be poised ta improve, he added. And, he said, the dot-. com crash of technology stocks is actually helping junior mining stacks im- ptove access to capital. That's because both sectors attract investors willing to make big risks lo earn big returns. Many mining investors shifted into tech after mining went down, Living- stone says, and- now they’re swinging back. “These high tech stocks are cratering so they're looking at putting it back into the mining sector.” he said, Local locksmith lauded for high-tech innovation CUTTING keys isn’t what it used to be. And nobody knows better than local locksmith Terry Heinricks. “A lot of keys are get- ting high tech,” said Hein- ricks. , Car keys in particular have taken on new secur- ity features that make cut- ting a new key a time-con- suming task. Many keys for new ve- hicles come equipped with electronic chips or trans- ponders designed to make it difficult for would-be thieves to steal vehicles, Bul getting copies made for the keys is not cheap. Heinricks said most of the keys with the special devices range from $30 to as high as $80. “A lot of people aren’t even aware that they have these systems until they come in to get an extra key cut,” said Heinricks. And if a person loses a key to their vehicle the process to determine which chip is required for the key can be very time consuming. If the key isn’t equipped with the right chip the ve- hicle will not start. “There are several dif- ferent chips,” he said. For new Genera! Motors vehicles locksmiths re- quire a special device called a VATS interrogator . TERRY HEINRICKS displays an electronic key for a GM car that requires special equipment to copy. ‘The fun stuff: four-legged competitor. ‘In the annual Dummy Downhill to test the vehicle to see which chip is needed, At first, Heinricks wasn’t making enough of the new keys to justify the expense of the $1,000 ma- chine. So he decided to make his own. Heinricks had some help from his son Mike when it. came to testing the machine. The young man was still attending Caledonia Senior Secondary school 1 . rad when they were making the device and they tested it on donated GM vehicles to see if it would work. It did work and the total cost was a mere $20 US. He entered the proto- type into a monthly con- lest sponsored by a trade magazine called The Na- tional Locksmith and won the award for best tip or innovation of the month. It was also named the best innovation of the year by the publication. 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