Will the Chemical Suit shown here soon replace the familiar orange whale watching suits on tourists and residents in Tofino?

And how will we fit them on all the eagles, herons, bears, whales, otters, salmon, crabs, sea urchin, star fish, halibut and all the other birds, fish and animals who live here?

Stop Exploratory Drilling for Copper in Clayoquot Sound!

Vancouver-based Selkirk Metals Corporation has applied to the BC Ministry of Mines for a permit to do exploratory drilling for copper on Catface Mountain in Clayoquot Sound.

The potential mine would remove the top third of Catface Mountain. It would be located in the middle of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with the potential to leach toxic chemicals into groundwater and streams, but on the other hand it will create a beautiful industrial view for Tofino.

Exploratory drilling will be damaging, it would involve re-building/building roads to bring in drill rigs – and once that machinery is brought in do you think the mining company wants to remove it? or do they leave it there ready for when the real mining kicks in?, and drill holes could leach toxic levels of heavy metals and chemicals into groundwater and surrounding salmon streams – just one more thing that Tofino can be proud of – we let a mining company come into a UN Biosphere Reserve and leach heavy metals and chemicals into the streams and groundwater. Way to go Tofino! That’s where we want to spend my tourism dollars – in a wilderness biosphere that is polluted.

What You Can Do!

It’s simple - governments listen to you if you show up in numbers. And all you have to do is send a postcard, a letter, fax, email or phone call. Be short and to the point. Use the addresses listed below or complete this online form and send it to all the email addresses below.

Why You Should Help. If we have to tell you… but anyway

Tofinoites - because you live here and it’s on your watch. Are you going to let down one of the most beautiful places in the world, the place that gives you peace and joy, the home you love, the wilderness that brings you big bucks?

Visitors - because Clayoquot Sound needs you and you are the paying customers who tourism dollars can drive politicians, business owners and residents to do the right thing. Sometimes being too close is a blinder and we need your perspective to help us see the light.

Natives - just because the official Ahousaht First Nation has entered into a MOU with the mining company don’t think that your voice will not be heard. We all have representatives that do things we disagree with and TTN can’t imagine that it’s in your best interest to tear away Catface for a bit of copper. How do you explain that to future generations saying, ‘at the time we got money for it and a few jobs and today you kids get toxic waste, leaching chemicals, and a landscape forever changed – sorry about that’.

Example Message – (Always ask representatives to reply)

I do not want any mining or exploratory drilling on Catface Mountain in Clayoquot Sound. You do understand that Clayoquot Sound is one of the most natural places on earth and by allowing mining in such pristine surroundings you run the risk of serious environmental and economic damage. What tourists will want to visit a so called BC Canadian wilderness mecca if we allow mining? I insist that Selkirk Metals application for exploratory drilling be denied. As my elected representative please reply and inform me how you are dealing with Selkirks drilling application for Catface.

Email or Call:
Premier Christy Clark, PO Box 9041, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9E1 premier@gov.bc.ca
Tel: 250-387-1715  Fax: 250-387-0087

Terry Lake, Minister of Environment, PO Box 9047, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2
env.minister@gov.bc.ca Tel: 250-387-1187 Fax: 250-387-1356

Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, PO Box 9060, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9E3  empr.minister@gov.bc.ca  Tel: 250-387-5896 Fax: 250-356-2965

Randy Hawes, Minister of State for Mining, PO Box 9070, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2
smin.minister@gov.bc.ca   Tel: 250-953-4100 Fax: 250-387-180

Mining in Clayoquot – Not a Bad Dream

When Copper Mines used up and abandoned and still pollute – Who Pays For Clean Up – You Do!
Province announces cleanup of abandoned open pit copper mine in Courtenay, BC
The B.C. government says an abandoned open pit copper mine in Courtenay will be cleaned up to support the recovery of Vancouver Island fish stocks. The Mount Washington mine operated for three years in the 1960s before it was abandoned. By the 1980s, toxic copper leaching from the site had virtually eliminated the salmon, trout and steelhead resource in the Tsolum River watershed.

British Columbia — Tsolum River (Mount Washington Mine)

The Tsolum River on Vancouver Island provided rich runs of coho, pink, chum and cutthroat salmon and steelhead trout for thousands of years. The river was rich in invertebrate life, free from silt.

… In 1964, Mt. Washington Copper moved into the upper watershed and built an open pit mine. It went into receivership in 1966, leaving unreclaimed pits and waste rock piles where pyrite ores lay exposed to water and oxygen. This ore, with a high content of sulfur, quickly formed sulfuric acid by coming in contact with oxygen and water. A copper leachate formed and reached the Tsolum River and from there, the Courtenay Estuary. By 1985, the River was as good as dead.

Attempts to deal with the disaster, including piling all the waste rock in one pile and mixing it with lime, have not worked.

The copper has destroyed the fishery which used to generate $2 million per year. It has been estimated that the cost to residents and taxpayers so far of this environmental disaster is over $60 million.

The solution is to research and monitor water flowing from the mine to determine all the sources of contamination, to pipe the leachate from these sources to a water treatment plant, and to monitor and treat the problem in perpetuity. Despite pressure from citizens groups, this has not yet happened. The estimate to build the treatment plant is $6 million.

(from Saving the Tsolum River,by Father Charles A.E. Brandt, and Acid Mine Drainage, by the Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia)

Wilderness Committee predicts massive fight over plans for copper mine in Clayoquot Sound
“I could scarcely think of a more environmentally damaging project than an open pit copper mine smack in the middle of the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve. If the Selkirk Metals actually believes this open pit mine project will ever see the light of day – then I think they must have rocks in their head,” said Foy “Opposition to this project will be local, national, global and massive,” he predicted.

Environmentalists Vow to Fight Copper Mine in Clayoquot Sound
If mining takes place, plans include the development of a new port for container ships, several giant open pit mines, new dams and lakes to contain the most toxic waste products, kilometers of conveyor belts that can emit toxic dust, diesel generator power stations, and roads – all visible from the town of Tofino and from Ahousaht.

Some of the World’s Richest Marine Life Threatened by Copper Mining
Copper mines similar to that proposed at Catface have horrible environmental records. The Copper Mines at Butte Montana, for example, are the site of the largest and most expensive toxic waste cleanup in United States history, and cancer rates are off the charts. The copper mine at nearby Mt. Washington, BC wiped out all five species of salmon in the Tsolum River.

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