: STORIES By ROD LINK
CASSIAR’' — Early .moming
hours here bring ont the big
Tavens, . ,

fy Constantly swooping and cir
cling, il’s as if they were looking

“for the choicest ‘of goods left over
from what was once home to
1,100 people,

The number has now dwindled
‘below 100° since the asbestos
“mine was placed into receivership
_~by ‘the provincial goverment in

February.

‘<: Barly morning also brings out
John Slana. Employed as a heavy
duty - equipment operator ‘when
the mine was operating, Slana
“now drives a garbage. truck for
“the receiver managing the mine’s
-affairs. _ .
His route takes him wp. and
‘down the empty streets, picking
‘up that which the others have dis- |
‘carded. .,

Slana poinis to an old wreath he
found and has now fixed to the
side of his garbage truck.

“It’s to bury Cassiar, You can an

go, without -style,’’ he “says.
“Maybe Pil send it to Mr. Har-
court when it’s finished.”

The start to the finish began in: .
January after weeks of tense ne-
goliations between Cassiar Mini-
ng Corporation and the provincial
governnent.

The issue was not one of the:
mine being viable. It was one of
money,

Cassiar > Mining ‘ Corporation
was the latest of several owners
of the property since it was devel-
oped in the early 1950s.

“Tt was a decision made
in, ‘Victoria before even one
person from the govern-

-ment came into the com-
munity.??

‘There was — and is — a ready
“market for the kind of asbestos to

“conie out ofthe mine.

_. The strands:were longer: Abani “in
otlerimines::and : that: niade. the-
‘finial ‘product stranger, ,

' Cassiar asbestos was used to

‘make. the: heat shields for

“NASA's space shuttle program.

-» Cassiar Mining. Corporation’s .

"purchase was accompanied by a

“decision to convert from an open
pit operation to underground.

Estimates were made that con-
Ainued’ the, mine’s life into the
‘next decade.

But Cassiar Mining Corporation
spent far more than it had wanted

- fo convert to. underground.

“Production problems pushed the

_price.lag to nearly $60 million,

-saddling the company with a siz-
able debt,

It went -to the province for a
loan and financing package which
at one lime amounted to $18 mil-
lion. * *

The government had already
lent “the company $20 million in
1988 and guaranteed a Bank of
Montreal loan for another $5 mil-
lion i in.1991.

This time the province balked,
using a still secret financial study
as justification. The province in-
stead proposed what it called a

soft closure’, $13 million to
keep the mine running until June.

- Cassiar cxeculives: responded
with a couiter olfer, demanding
imniediate payment of manies.
~The province. also. discovered

other information it has so far
“refused: ta’ disclose. ©

It went to
court Feb. 5, had the conypany
placed into receivership and the
mine closed right away. °
This became known as the
‘Shard closure’’, putting clase to
400 miners and others out of a
job. ,

- Planes from, Victoria filled the

air and civil servants came lo

town as the province committed
“itself to millions of dollars in job

‘Te-training, severance pay and
_ relocation expenses,

Cassiar residents bad an idea

. something was going wrong
months before the problem be-

-caine a News story...
: And it wasn’t the first lime ci-

ther as. mining. towns. always:

“spawn rumours that an ctid may
’ be near.

’ "This is the second go around —

in the last five years,’’ said Lee

Coran, a 26-year resident of Cas- .

Siar.

Coran first came lo work al the
mine and then opened her own
accounting business.

- She feels the provincial govern-

ment could have done mare to
Kéep the mine open.
“Tm very frustrated with that,”

said Coran, ‘‘There’s been many, °

many millions of dollars spent.
My personal guess is that it will
be. well over. $30 million to put
approximately 600 people out of
work and on UL?

“Tt was a decision made in Vic-
toria before even one person from
the government came into the
community,” she said.

Coran held out hope until July

“that a company which placed a

bid an the:niine Jandiiswea wold:
“come ‘through: hionin b
- Black. - Swain | -Gold< Mines

"couldn't come up with the money

and the receiver hired Maynard’s
Auctioncers to dispose of all the:
assets;

It's been a sad and ‘troubling
ine for Coran and the others left

Cassiar who work for the
receiver,

Coran was in charge of the fed-
eral government's relocation pro-
gram, often. making her the last
person to talk with (hose: who
leave.

“We say we'll see you s some-.
time, Nobody ‘says goodbye,”’
said Caran,

Those still left in Cassiar wark:
for the receiver in maintaining the
town and the mine or are waiting
for moving vans to show. 1 up.

As services such as the grocery .

store, liguar store close, the
remaining residents gather around

* tables set up in one corner ‘of the
communily centre lo drink coffee _

and talk.

Asset rich, but cash poor

CASSIAR — Not all of the
people affected by the closure of
Ihe asbestos mine here worked
for the Cassiar Mining Corpora-
tion.”

Some owned and operated their
~ pwn businesses,

And, although the provincia
government ‘did offer financial
help, the loss of their businesses
‘and investment still carried a
price lag.. .

“We were a. typical northern
busincss,"* said Sherry Scthen

who, with husband Bob, owned R

and & Services Ltd.

For 20 years they operated a
business that grew to include a
service station, fuel and propane
deliveries and contract work with
loaders, graders and backhoes,

‘The “nuinber
ranged fron three to 13 depend-
jig upon the season and the wark
load.

But those 2 20 years have been

’ washed away with the mine

closure, placing the Scthens in the

DEATH OF A TOWN

~ Cassiar braces for the end

3

of employees ;

- WREATH ON the side of John Slana's garbage truck is symbolic of how Cassiar residents feel

about the closing of the mine and the shutting down of the town. The papulation continues to drop
as a massive auction next month is planned to sell everything and anything in the town and at the
mine. Slana spent 24 years in Cassiar, beginning as a labourer and working his way up to a heavy

duty equipment operator.

One’ of those is Dennis’ Ander-
son, : from - Saskatchewan and 4
12-year resident of Cassiar. He’s

- moving to Terrace, a popular spot

for those [rom Cassiar.

“People. are leaving Sas-
katchewan faster than they are
Cassiar and they’re‘leaving here
in a hurry,” he said.

If there. is any, kind: of industry.

left in Cassiar, it?s that created by

the receiver aud the auction con 2

pany.
Already for sale are nearly 150
homes of various kinds and auc-

tion. employees’ are cataloguing
“everything else.

Maynard's originally planned a

: Ahrec- day affair with two auction

posilion of starting over.
They are sel€ employed and

consequently don’t qualify for.

unemployment insurance, .

And Sethen says banks wou't.-

give them. a mortgage witil they
have a five-year track record built
up ina new enterprise.

“Experience and ‘good © “will.
she said
of trying to build up: a-line-of
credit for a ew effort “We have ~

don’t count for a thing,”’

to start from scratch to establish
that business.”

rings in September but bas now
changed that to a one-ring, five-

day event.
There’s: no definite word on

_ what will happen to buildings and

equipment that aren't sold.

A community society, for in--

Slance, owns a small ski lift, It'll

‘be kept there for a year until a.

finat decision is made.
Under provincial government

mine reclamation. guidelines, the. -
“minesite must be turned ‘back to —

mature. a ‘
The same gocs with the huge

tailings ‘pile. accumulated _ after

years of mining. Plaus are to
cover the pile with soil and plant
grass or other kind of vegetation.

The Sethens do qualify for fed-
eral and provinelal re-location as-
sistance, as do their employees.

Yet business owners don’t
quatify for tinancial assistance in

looking for jobs or for business

opportunities. -
“The: “provineial government: is
offering assistance of up to 10 per

cent of the ‘appraised « value to
help with relocation: ar to offset

costs of having assets included in.

the September auction.
But that assislance only applies

Lee Coran

Business faces new beginning

to movable assets, not to fixed as-
sets such asa building or property
owned by a business, said Sethen,

This makes things difficult be--

cause-as with a lot of businesses,
the Scethens are asset rich and
cash poor.

And, says Sethen, re-sale prices

~ of large. machinery . are - low,

makhig for a'slim retum. - -
The Scthens are-
Prince George where they'll keep
some. of their belongings and
equipment with friends as they
begin toa re-establish themselves.

moving ‘to-

) Steven Jakesta

Natives

Tearing
_ future

. ‘g00D HOPE LAKE —

“Whe the town of Cassiar. shut
down, so did the closest place
‘for services for this tiny com-
munily straddling Hwy37,
“From being, just 36km away
| froma hospital, a post office

cand an'-RCMP detachmeut, it’s
now a:118km drive to Watson
Lake in the Yukon.

That distance has the Dease
River Indian Band of approxi-
mately 100 people -at Good
Hope Lake worried . should
there be an emergency,

“We feel like we've been
forgatten,” said band econom-
ic development officer Steven
Jakesta. of the provincial
government's role in the mine:
closure.

"We've been at this place
for the last 40 years, They've
given Cassiar everything they
waited. We were bere before
the mine was bere and. iow
they’ve gone,” he added.

There are services in Dease
Lake, 137k to the south, but
that communily: doesn’t have
the kind of hospital that apera-
ted in Cassiar,

The band now wants to build
a heli-pad for emergency air-
lifts to Watson Lake,

And it also wants a full time

medical nurse stationed in the
community.
* The} band-has the money for
a trailer to house a full time
nurse but only has the money
for a half time _ community:
bealth position.

That position, said Jakesta,
would ensure basic health care
and emergency aid until a per-
son can be taken to Watson
Lake.

Also being investigated i is the
possibility of a baud police
force.

“The band bas in ‘the last. 12
months worked closely with
the RCMP in Cassiar. We con-
trolled the amount of crime in
the community, We've come a
long way in the last 12 months
and know we don’t have a po-
lice presence,” said Jakestla.

He said the band wants a
highways maintenance yard
relocated from Cassiar ta Good
Hope Lake.

That would increase the pop-
ulation and belp to justify
basing. more services there,
Jakesta added. a

Those services would then

encourage, other people. t
move to Good Hope Lake, he
said.-
A referendum Aug, 24 could
put the band in a more stable
situation to deal with Cassiar’ s
closure. -

That'll determine if Good
Hope Lake residents will agree
to lake the land upon which
they now live as compensation
for iand taken away from a
small reserve [hey own, |”

Up until now, the band has
been living on land: owned by
he provincial government. |
- Having. a reserve of. their
own, will qualify. residents for
more assistance because they'll
then have a laid base of their
own.

"Oh Baby
Michael and Jessica are
the most common baby
_names in B.C,
Of 23,576 males born in
| 1991,. 542 are named
~Michael. Of 22,350 fe-
males born. that year,
there are 505 Jessicas.
=, Other common girls’

‘and ‘boys’ names are
. Sarah, “Ashley, Matthew,

a= ee

and Christopher.

The. Start i fj eaple ne
learning how t “

Breast cancer kills more

than 500 wamen a year in

BSC,

‘The cancer feels like a
lump in your breast.

Af a lump can be found’
before it gets: big, then a

“*- doctor can femove it.

Women aver 40-years-

“old can -get. free tests to.

“find these lumps.

- Breast cancer test.

done every one to two
years,

_To get the test, phone
1-800- 663-9203. The

phone call is free. You do

not have to go to your
doctor to get the test:

The test results: will be
mailed to you.

If the tests find a fump,
then. you will, ‘Bet More

-‘Thiese tests ” should be tests. a