The Telegram
Editorial
04/10/08
The Toronto-based minerals analyst was in high dudgeon. Halfway through the phone call, her voice rising, she blurted out “Don’t they understand what a moratorium would mean?”
The analyst was calling The Telegram to ask questions about the wild news she had heard, news that couldn’t be true — that Labrador’s Nunatsiavut government was considering a bill that would impose a moratorium on uranium mining and production for a period of some three years.
Obviously, there was more at play than idle curiosity. It was pretty clear that there was some serious money on the line, and that the idea of a moratorium had implications not just for Labrador, but for Toronto as well.
On Wednesday, the Nunatsiavut government put the ban in place, but allowed exploration for uranium to continue.
It’s a decision that is going to have some far-reaching effects: Uranium is a hot commodity right now, and some of the busiest players in the Labrador mining industry are uranium juniors that are trying to cash in on the high price and get full-scale mining operations in place.
A three-year delay might not be life-or-death for those operators, but it sure does nothing to make their lives simpler, either in the world of taking advantage of the radioactive metal’s current high price, or in the area of finding investors for future development. After all, a government that can delay mining for three years might well consider an extension to the moratorium, and another extension after that.
Still, you have to stop for a moment and consider the position the Inuit have taken, and respect the administration for its stand. Nunatsiavut Lands and Resources Minister William Barber said that the government was committed to long-term environmental protection — and that they weren’t ready to rush into a mining project.
(Please read the balance of this article by clicking the link below:)
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=125003&sc=80
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