NGLO Rouyn mine, a new
project at Waden Bay on
the north end of Lag La

nge, is very much im- the

Ws these days in Saskatché®

fan. Rio Algom recently an-

Ounced the mine is to go into
toduction.

The Waden Bay ore body was
Covered almost 50 years ago.
‘rious efforts were made to
Pen a mine. In 1952 Rio Al-
em, Canadian subsidiary of
: ant British-owned Rio Tinto,
Marted exploratory work, They

ek 4 544-foot shaft, probed
i pray, and stockpiled what
oh, they dug. In the late 50’s

ne Anglo R :
Bsed. & ouyn Mine was

a & Teserves, estimated at
‘,: ‘Wo million tons, contain
7, Percent copper, some gold
eat traces of silver. A concen-
4.0! Will be built at the site
,. ©ONcentrates will be ship-
d to Flin Flon for smelting.

yi By December, 1965, the com-
iY hopes to be in full opera-
yon, 900 tons of ore a day.

2 Ronge people eagerly
. the development. Busi-
nen hope the mine will pro-
m year-round stability to
( a enterprises. Community
Bini, and civic officials are
iL: ae of expanded school and
om al facilities, housing pro-
7 > 4nd recreation projects.

, Every unemployed man inLa

ee district without work.
3 a tee grow up without
Bane test prospect of a job.
welfare. payments are
. & the highest in the prov-

government of
a is, of urse,
f. aiming full credit for fend:
Plain ae pore The Liberals
Besec. avorable climate for
be) evail ; prise now said to
Ri in the province was the

fason for the c .
: Ompany’s deci-
= to produce, nae

é Putte the recent Hanley by-
Bois o which ended disas-
ase. Or the Liberals, these
Rade: Were unfortunately given
ee by a top company offi-

, ae have been repeated in
: youmiern Miner, organ of
a ining firms.
| Their stor
ne

ge om

o—

y is that only in
ummer of 1964 did the
| Hl decide to convert An-
ine ae into a_ producing
3. aa : € decision was alleged-
Rienal 0 the new government’s
hy Y moves,
A new, “lenient”

‘“ructure was royalty

brought in, com-
@ government pro-
ild a road joining
Go With the Hanson
Rie. ad and thus cut off 300
Flo Tom the ore haul to Flin
Boca Therefore, the tale con-
ese’ Rio Algom immediately
hei, 144 Claims surrounding
Bes Original 42 claims, and
io € plans to go into produc-
| ote Story makes delightful
* Sie fairy tales do. We
3 ’ er, poi
screpancies point out a few
ai the CCF never turned
s rn on building the
mR ighway; this was a fac-
M the decision to build the

€nson Lak :
ace, € Road in the first

H Second, the 144 claims re-
€d to had been staked years

How the Anglo Rouyn mine
could benefit La Ronge

Will the Anglo Rouyn copper mine bring prosperity to
La Ronge? Why is the Thatcher government slashing
royalties? Will local labor be trained and hired? What
will be done to develop other mines in the area?
Decision to bring a closed-down mine into produc-
tion raises hopes and problems in a small Saskatche-
wan community. In this article LLOYD MATTSON traces

the development of events.

(SRE ee

ago by prospectors who . let
them lapse. Anyone who wishes
to check corner stakes can veri-
fy that they were restaked by
a local prospector in the fall of
1963 and transferred to Rio
Tinto later in the same year.
The company waited until the
small prospectors were frozen
out by time and then secured
the whole works for itself.

These developments occurred
long before there was any sign
of a change in the provincial
political climate. In other words,
the company had apparently
decided to. open Anglo Rouyn
under then-existing conditions.
The underlying reason is quite
obvious — a Canadian copper
boom was on the way.

A quick examination of the
national and international cop-
per picture bears this out. Cop-
per consumption in the non-
socialist sector of the world
rose by 12 percent in 1964,
while simultaneously, produc-
tion in Chile, North Rhodesia
and the United States, which
together- supply 70 percent of
the western world’s. copper, was
severely curtailed by labor un-
rest or the political situation.

The Canadian copper indus-
try benefitted. In 1964 three
new copper mines came into
production; others are slated.

Also, in 1964, the copper
price rose from 31.5 cents to 35
cents a pound — it had been
24 cents in 1958. According to
the Nov. 26 Northern Miner,
this trend was already apparent
in late 1963!

Against this background,
harsh judgment must be passed
on the Liberal government’s de-
cision to slash royalties. The
Thatcher regime granted min-
ing companies a_ three-year
royalty-free period. After this
there will be a sliding scale of
royalties. The first $25,0°O an-
nual profit is royalty-free; five
percent is to be paid on the
next $75,000; seven percent on
profits between $100,000 and
$500,000; profit over this figure
is to be taxed nine percent. The
previous royalty was a straight
1244 percent on net profit.

The 1214 percent royalty was
fair and shoulc be reimposed.
One cannot quarrel with rea-
sonable incentives for those
who would explore and deve-

lop our resources. The govern-
‘ment’s program, for example,
of paying half of prospectors’

expenses, seems like a sound
investment. Giving the resource
away after it has been found,
however, is quite different.

The ~ provincial government
should also take immediate ac-
tion to aid the people of La
Ronge. The village needs con-
siderable aid to embark on
sewer and water projects made
necessary by the coming expan-
sion.

The community’s school and
hospital facilities will have to
be expanded radically; the gov-
ernment can start by reversing
its decision not to build the
school gymnasium-auditorium.

A large-scale housing project,
underwritten by senior govern-
ments and supported by the
company, will be needed as the
community expands. Otherwise
haphazard, makeshift develop-
ment will be the rule. / “-quate
measures must be taken to cu-
shion the shock should the mine~
project close down; the village
must not be left holding the
bag.

It is important that local men
form the bulk of the labo. force.
But most of them lack training
and experience for mining ope-
rations. The provincial govern-
ment, in cooperation with the
company, must act now to offer
these workers an _ immediate,
comprehensive training  pro-
gram with pay. Otherwise it
seems likely that many local
residents are deceiving them-
selves cruelly concerning their
job prospects at the mine.

Such a training program
should be continuing and as it
unfolds it can expand to include
other skills that will be re-
quired in developing the north.

Waden Bay is just one of
many areas in the north that
can be opened and it is not the
most important by any means,
Other larger ore bodies such as
that at Brabant Lake probably
have even more potential.

But the condition. under
which the Anglo Rouyn mine is
developemd could set the pat-
tern. It is highly important that
the development be orderly,
carried on in the interests of
the people.

Here's the Latin-America way

HILE Premier Ross That-

cher of Saskatchewan

is busy turning over
the rich natural resources of
the province to American
monopolies, in Chile these
same monopolies are busy
trying to head off the na-
tionalization of their copper
holdings.

The Jan. 4, 1965, issue of
U.S. News and World Report,
carries and article, ‘“Chile’s
New Deal with U.S. Firms.”
Two U.S. firms, the Anacon-
da Company and the Kenne-
cott Copper Corporation, have
long dominated the Chilean
copper industry. They have
agreed to give a share in

ownership and management
to the Chilean government.
In return the government is
to provide funds for expan-
sion, to double that country’s
production of raw copper.

The money to pay for
Chile’s share in the industry
is to be borrowed from the
U.S. Export-Import fund.

_ Chilean copper will be offer-

ed on the world markets to
all buyers, including the
Soviet Union and other so-
cialist countries. In return,
the companies will get con-
cessions on taxes.

(Premier Thatcher is alrea-
dy giving tax and royalty
holidays without any com-

mittments by the U.S. mono-
polies.)

Chile is conducting nego-
tiations with other U.S. com-
panies in the copper business.

The Anaconda company
will retain sole ownership of
its two operating mines. A’
new company, to be owned
75 percent by Anaconda and
25 percent by Chile, is to be
set up. A second company in
which the Chilean govern-
ment will have 49 percent
ownership will undertake ex-
ploration, and any additional
mines developed will be joint-
ly owned.

The Kennecott Company’s
El Teniente mine will be

taken over by a company in
which Chile has 51 percent
ownership, for which Kenne-
cott will be paid $80 million
over a 20-year period — this
money to be earmarked for
production expansion.

H. Danforth Starr, vice
president and treasurer of
Cerro Corporation, also now
jointly owned, stated that the
companies feel they must go
along as “the alternatives are
not very attractive.”

Says U.S. News and World
Report: ‘Major alternative:
control by the Communists,
who were Mr. Frei’s chief op-
position in the recent elec-
tion.”

January 29, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7