TheOntario government's move to block development of half the province'sboreal forest ranks among the biggest land-protection initiatives inrecent memory. But in a strange twist, it is also a potential positivefor the mining industry.
The details are still hazy, but PremierDalton McGuinty announced this week that 225,000 square kilometres ofthe forest would be set aside for tourism and aboriginal use. Allindustrial development, including logging and mineral exploration, willbe banned.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, the government willundergo a huge mapping and land-use planning process to identify theplaces that most need protection. In so doing, prospectors areconfident they will also find promising mining regions that no oneknows about.
"Right now, there's no good mapping in the Northoutside of some rivers and tributaries," said Garry Clark, executivedirector of the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA). "If thegovernment feeds a bunch of data in there and can get us better[drilling] targets, then we're way better off."
He is confidentthat if the government puts enough money into the initiative, thosetargets should be found. "We're not 100% sure they're going to do itproperly, so we've got to give it a chance," he said.
All thesame, the Premier's announcement made some of the Mayors of northernmining towns nervous, as they fear any kind of slowdown in activity.Many of them witnessed first-hand the downturn in the forestry sector,which devastated some communities.
But Michael Gravelle,Ontario's Minister of Northern Development and Mines, said developmentshould continue at full force. He said all previously approvedactivities will be allowed to continue, and the amount of land thatwill remain open for development is still massive.
"It's 225,000square kilometres, which is one-and-a-half times the size of theMaritimes. It's almost like people don't understand how large the farnorth [of Ontario] is," he said in an interview.
Currently, onlyabout 3% of the boreal area has been staked by prospectors and miningcompanies, said Chris Hodgson, president of the Ontario MiningAssociation.
That activity is concentrated in a few large miningcamps, especially Sudbury, Timmins and Red Lake. Mc-Fauld's Lake (nearJames Bay) also emerged as a hot area after a discovery by NorontResources Ltd. last year.
The government is not providing anydetails of what areas will be off-limits to development until theland-use planning process gets underway and it has a better idea ofwhat needs to be protected.
"In essence, it hasn't been picked. It's 50%, that's it," Mr. Gravelle said.
Theboreal forest initiative will be introduced along with an overhaul ofOntario's Mining Act, which mining companies and First Nations groupsalike have criticized for its lack of clarity.
pkoven@nationalpost.com