FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1969 AUTOMATION ON WATERFRONT. Photo above shows the new Monc crane in operation on the Prince Rupert waterfront. The crane can pick up 64 bales in one load with no men used in the hold for loading. It takes a gang of eight men and operates on an electro magnet principle. The new crane replaces five 13-man gangs, altogether about 70 men on an average ship. Photo shows the crane loading kraft pulp. This equipment does away with many jobs on the waterfront and speeds the export of more jobs by stepping up the loading of raw and semi-processed materials for processing abroad. R, Doran photo Labor calls for Bennett resignation over C’wealth The 70,000 member Vancouver Labor Council and the B.C. Communist Party this week called for the resignation of Premier W.A.C. Bennett as finance minister over his govern- ments mishandling of the Commonwealth affair. The Communist Party has called for action to protect the life savings of small depositors. “Premier Bennett as Minister of Finance. and any other cabinet Member involved in any way in the shockingly irresponsible and Peprehensible dealings with Commonwealth Trust and ' associated companies. should » Yesign’. without. delay’. Nigel] Morgan. Provincial leader of the Communist Party told the Party's Convention in the Clinton Hall last weekend. “Not only the government's failure to protect the public against one of the worst swindles this province has yet experienced, but still worse their subterfuge and continuing efforts to coverup for their political friends has shaken public confidence,” he declared. “The Socred administration has been caught with its hand in the cookie-jar. First they hid information from the public as to the true state of affairs in the Commonwealth group,’ Morgan charged. “The Bennett administration has got to be made to accept its responsibility, » »Publie , opinion must be mobilized to compel them to adopt measures to protect the life savings of thousands of depositors and small investors.’ Tribune VOL. 30, NO. 12 Cs INING GIANTS RID QUGHSHOD OVER B Action on 10c copper smelter vital now BY MAURICE RUSH B.C.’s foreign owned mining monopolies showed this week that they intend to ride roughshod over the welfare of the people and the province in their scramble for super profits. e FIRST: The Mining Associa- tion of B.C. presented a brief last Wednesday to the legislature's committee holding hearings in Victoria on strip mining and arrogantly served notice that it considers any meaningful legis- lation on this vital issue as ‘impossible @e SECOND: Having already extended surface mining operations all over the province including public parks. the mining giants are now laying claim to Native Indian lands for their own purposes This week the Bethlehem Copper Corp.. controlled by the Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. of Japan, took its dispute with the Indians of Highland Valley (near Spences Bridge) to the Supreme Court seeking mineral rights on the reserve lands of the Cook's Ferry band. Other mining giants. including Cominco, have also sought control of the rich copper and molybdenum deposits on the Indian reserve lands. e THIRD: The Lornex Mining Corp.. controlled by Rio Algom Mines, which is in turn controlled by the international combine Rio Tinto Zine Corp., announced plans for a vast mining operation in the fabulously rich Highland Valley. This development will be the largest single base-metal mining operation in Canada. The EXCLUSIVE CHINA TODAY SPECIAL 12-PAGE FEATURE INSIDE entire production of 110 million pounds of copper concentrates and 2.5 million pounds of molybdenum will go to Japan for processing Each of these three develop- ments in the past week would in itself have constituted an important issue for the people of B.C. But the three events taken together show how arrogantly the big mining giants are challenging the public welfare and moving ahead with their plans to rob the people's heritage and leave a devastated province with hundreds of empty holes in the ground PLUNDER RESOURCES The plunder of the province s mineral resources and their export aboard in raw form ts, of course, the major issue tacing Lornex operation is considered a_ deathblow to prospects of a large copper smelter in the central interior of B.C.. since the ore is earmarked for export to Japan. In 21 vears the mine will be exhausted at the rate exploitation will take place The Lornex operation will be an open pit mine us. The Announcement of the Lornex operation spurred demands this week that the provincial government form a Crown corporation to build a copper smelter in B.C, Both the Communist Party and NDP have called for such action without delay. It is obviously economic lunacy to keep digging up and shipping out copper ore without establishing a copper smelter to ensure that B.C. derives full benefit by processing here Action to win a publicly owned copper smelter now is vital to halting the export of raw materials and spearheading the drive for secondary industries in the province, See MINING, back page. —_—