Newsletter 25: Winter 2007-2008

Samedi, janvier 3, 2009

Across Canada, communities and Aboriginal governments are saying they have had enough when it comes to the privileged access mining has to land under the existing system, which grants “free entry” to prospectors and mining companies under the assumption the mining is the “highest and best” use of land.

In Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories, communities are organizing to end the free entry system.

Samedi, janvier 3, 2009

Over the past year, the Canary Institute and MiningWatch Canada have been honoured to work with Myths and Mirrors Community Arts in Sudbury on a project for youth called “Conversations with the Earth”.

Myths and Mirrors hosted the Ontario Mining Action Network meeting in November 2007 and participants were treated to a tour of the project and the community art installations they have carried out over the years.

Samedi, janvier 3, 2009

In December, 2007, MiningWatch Canada issued its long-awaited position statement on uranium mining; it’s on our web site at: http://www.miningwatch.ca/miningwatch-canada-policy-statement-uranium-mining

Requests for help in addressing uranium issues from all across Canada meant that we had to figure out exactly where we stood on uranium mining and exploration.

Vendredi, janvier 2, 2009

Xstrata’s Koniambo project in the South Pacific French territory of Kanaky-New Caledonia, formerly owned by Falconbridge, is coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism. The proposed nickel mine, in the northern province of Kanaky-New Caledonia, will be one of the largest mines in the world when it is built. The territory, called New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Caledonie) by the French, is called Kanaky by its native Kanak inhabitants.

Jeudi, janvier 29, 2004

A discussion paper on the need to reform mineral tenure law in Canada by Karen Campbell, West Coast Environmental Law staff counsel, January 2004.

What is free entry?

The free entry system is the dominant means of granting mineral tenures in Canada today. It gives mining companies the exclusive right to Crown-owned mineral substances from the surface of their claim to an unlimited extension downwards. There are 3 primary rights associated with the law of free entry: