News Releases
BC Chamber of Commerce Condemns Government's Uranium Ban
Whistler, May 27, 2008 – In response to the Provincial Government’s recent ban on the exploration and development of uranium deposits in British Columbia, the BC Chamber of Commerce has developed policy seeking to have the ban immediately rescinded.
The resolution, which was supported unanimously at the Chamber’s 56th Annual General Meeting and Conference in Whistler on Saturday by delegates from across the province, calls the Government’s ban “misguided” and criticizes the lack of industry consultation and science-based decision-making.
“This ban can have the effect of ruining investor confidence,” says John Winter, President and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce. “Rather than providing fostering the health of BC’s mining industry, which was their professed intention, the government has simply reinforced our reputation in international mining and investment communities as an uncertain place to do business.”
Under the ban, not only do all new mineral claims acquired exclude the rights to uranium and thorium, any mineral tenures acquired before April 24th of this year which do carry those rights will no longer have them honoured by the province, a breach which has seriously damaged BC’s relationship with those tenure holders.
More to the point, the government has rationalized the decision by pointing out that nuclear energy is not a part of its BC Energy Plan – reasoning which, the Chamber maintains, is simply fallacious.
“Declaring that, because BC will not be the immediate users of these resources, they are of no value and will therefore remain undeveloped is illogical,” says Winter. “Until the Government bases this decision on science, on consultation, and on input from the public, the health of the mining industry isn’t something that’s being fostered. It’s being called into question.”
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For more information on this issue please contact;
John Winter
President & CEO
BC Chamber of Commerce
D 604 638 8110
C 604.376.3577
E jwinter@bcchamber.org
