Miclash challenges ministers to support northwestern mine.

• Author: Costea, Thom
• Position: Member of the Provincial Parliament Frank Miclash; gold mining project in Shoal Lake - Mining Report

A provincial showdown is brewing in the battle between gold mining and drinking water at a northwestern Ontario lake near the Manitoba border.

Consolidated Professor Mines wants to start production at its Duport gold project on Shoal Lake. The only hitch so far is a formal and extensive environmental assessment (EA) process which has never before been conducted on a gold mine proposal.

But this is not an average gold mining project. Shoal Lake provides the drinking water for the city of Winnipeg.

The environmental assessment was initiated by the previous Liberal government in Ontario in response to pressure from the federal government and the Manitoba legislature.

Consolidated Professor president Dick Dunlop says he is frustrated by the bureaucratic process, charging that the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has prematurely disclosed confidential information. The Ontario government has received a draft of Consolidated Professor's EA report.

IN CONFIDENCE

"We are asking the government to examine the report on a confidential basis until it identifies any discrepancies. Hopefully the government will not release only a partial report as it did last time," says Dunlop. "We feel we have all the bases covered in this impact report. There's no reason the project can't go ahead."

Consolidated Professor has spent $21 million on the project over the past 30 years, completing exploration, feasibility studies and now EA reports. Underground development and exploration indicate mineral reserves of two million tons grading at .35 ounces of gold per ton of ore.

Kenora Liberal MPP Frank Miclash is pushing for the gold mining project, located in his riding, and Dunlop has also met with Ontario Premier Bob Rae.

"I met with Premier Rae and he was receptive to the project," says Dunlop.

"The people of my constituency cannot afford to let the Shoal Lake EA process be delayed in any way," says Miclash...