Alberta

Joint news release with Northwatch: A major new report highlights serious impacts on the Canadian boreal forest from all phases of mining activity, from exploration to closure. Two respected mining industry watchdogs – Northwatch and MiningWatch Canada – say they published The Boreal Below (an all-new and expanded version of a widely circulated 2001 report) in response to growing demand from communities across Canada for information and analysis to help understand the impacts of mining on their lives and livelihoods. It provides a carefully-documented analysis of the social, environmental, and cultural impacts of mining from prospecting to mine closure, as well as an overview of the current situation by province and territory.

Sierra Club of Canada/MiningWatch Canada

First proposed in 1996 and reviewed by federal-provincial hearings in 1997 and 2000, Cheviot was not developed due its poor economics and public opposition. Now the company has commenced a different and potentially more destructive mine project. In 1997, Ottawa papers reported that the federal government had delayed their decision on Cheviot while they "worked on a strategy to sell the controversial project to the public."?

On April 2, 2003, after six years of saying the Cheviot mine would be developed despite public opposition, owners of the Fording Coal Partnership announced they will not develop the mine after all and have shelved it for an indefinite period. They’ve pulled the plug on what was to be a massive open-pit coal mine located on critical wildlife habitat adjacent to Jasper National Park and in the core of the proposed Mountain Park.