Good green news in mining.

• Author: Sudol, Stan
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: MINING

The mining sector is ignoring the green light at the end of the tunnel that is attached to a 100-tonne locomotive driven by the environmental movement.

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The collision is going to be messy! It will impact the industry at a time when the voracious metal demands of China and India could bring enormous prosperity to isolated Aboriginal communities throughout northern Ontario.

This constant demonization of the mining sector by media-savvy NGOs is also affecting the recruitment of the next generation of workers the industry so desperately needs.

From the academy award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth that stars Al Gore to Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio posing on the cover of Vanity Fair--photographed in the Arctic with a cute polar bear cub to highlight global warming--there is no doubt that environmental issues dominate society's cultural and political agendas.

Unfortunately, the mining sins of the father are certainly coming back to haunt the sons!

Past industry practices that were detrimental to the environment are still highlighted by the anti-mining crowd today.

Yet, the reality of mining in the 21st century is quite the opposite. Strict environmental regulations are enforced on all new projects. Mining companies must develop closure or decommissioning plans that require the restoration of all lands to their natural state when the operations are finished.

Over the past 20 years, the industry has made tremendous strides at reducing the environmental footprint of their operations.

In the Sudbury Basin, CVRD Inco has spent close to $1 billion over the past 30 years to reduce the amount of sulphur pollution by 90% from their local smelter complex--one of the largest in the world. Most current mining operations including the mine, mill, access roads and tailings take up less than five square kilometres. Ontario encompasses 1,076, 395 square kilometers. All of Ontario's past and present mines together occupy about 250 square kilometers--less land area than Highway 401 and only about 0.03 percent of Ontario's total land area.

The mining sector is also making significant progress in helping alleviate the poverty found in Aboriginal communities. At Goldcorp's Musselwhite Gold Mine, located 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, a precedent-setting agreement between the company and four surrounding First Nations communities ensures that qualified Aboriginals are given priority in the hiring process. In addition, native...