Over the past year and a half, local residents have been hearing about the possibility of a magnesium mine starting up right outside Rossland city limits.
The story is convoluted by the regulatory details and many still do not seem to believe it could be a reality.
After all, it has been 100 years since the last active mine closed in Rossland.
We are a resort municipality with a flourishing recreation economy and locals move to this area for recreation use of our surrounding environment.
An open-pit is an incongruent choice for our community and lacks an air of reality as we go about our daily lives.
Unfortunately, an open-pit mine is a real possibility.
If we as residents don’t do everything we can to stop it, permit approvals could happen as early as this fall.
West High Yield Resources, an Alberta-based exploration company has identified a deposit with magnesium in it at Record Ridge.
It is immediately adjacent to the Seven Summits Trail, directly upstream from Paterson, and next door to the community of Big Sheep Creek.
This is only seven kilometre from Rossland along the Old Cascade Highway. If approved, it would be the closest mineral mine to a community in British Columbia.
The ore trucks and mine traffic will travel through Rossland, Warfield, and Trail multiple times per day, if approved. There is asbestos and silica in the rock that will move through our communities.
Following along with the process and details of the project since Spring 2023, has led me to question the decision making around this project and its impacts to our region.
I pose these questions for consideration by our community as a whole:
Should an open pit mine be allowed to start a kilometer from 42 occupied homes, with over 100 people living within a proximity to the mine that will significantly impact their daily wellbeing?
Should a mine be allowed to discharge into a creek that flows past several of these homes, recharges residential drinking water wells, and is used for local agriculture and livestock?
Should an open pit mine be allowed to destroy land values and place multi-generational family farming operations at risk?
Should an open pit mine be allowed to dig up a red-listed grassland, home to the threatened mountain holly fern and used by many other species including the great blue heron, toads, and other species of special concern?
Should an open pit mine be allowed to start in an old growth management area? Should a mine be allowed to discharge into tributaries of the Columbia River, where salmon restoration initiatives have been undertaken both north and south of the border?
Should an open pit mine be allowed to start in a region that is thriving from recreation tourism, an industry that has been heavily invested in by both the City of Rossland and the province; the only resort municipality in the West Kootenay?
This is a region that supports many local businesses who rely on recreation and tourism to support their livelihoods.
Should a mine be allowed to start which will give next to nothing to our local region and only a small fraction of profits to the province in tax?
Should an open pit mine be allowed to start in a region that attracts well educated individuals from all over the world because of its natural environment and the allure of access to nature?
Our regional hospital is offering more procedures than ever before, meaning that we as locals do not have to travel to Kelowna and Vancouver to get these procedures anymore.
Would we attract the same caliber of care if we are no longer seen as an outdoor lifestyle destination but are instead labelled as an open pit mining community?
Should a mining company be allowed to cut its production to avoid an environmental assessment to get a foothold, to start work, to dig up a grassland that took thousands of years to develop, when they openly state to investors that they will pursue a significantly larger plan.
A plan that would devastate the ridge, the communities surrounding it, and severely impact the region?
Is it ok if the impacts of a project of this nature are not assessed by third-party specialists before provincial approvals, risking all of the above?
I feel the answer to every single question I ask here is no. It is true our region was built on mining and its true that we need mining for the future of our world.
But a mine that is so close to so many people is not tenable. A mine within such a sensitive ecosystem should not be permitted. A mine that is incongruent with our local economy is not a sustainable choice.
I sincerely believe the mine won’t benefit our community. This project should not be allowed to go ahead.
However, without our voices shouting from the rooftops that this isn’t what we want, this mine will happen.
So please, write to the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation and demand a permit not be issued (MMD-Cranbrook@gov.bc.ca).
Support the Save Record Ridge Action Committee who are working tirelessly to stop this project by donating (www.saverecordridge.ca).
Tell our local RDKB representative, Linda Worley, and the City of Rossland that this isn’t what you want.
Share with your friends to do the same.
Let’s work together to stop this mine.
Action is needed now. There is power in numbers. Please make your voice heard.
Elissa Ferguson is a Rossland resident and mother of two small children. Ferguson holds a M.Sc in Environmental Management and has been working in mining regulation and reclamation for 10 years.
