The information session held by Pancontinental Resources to talk about the proposed mine in Limerick was a spirited affair.
The session The Limerick Community Centre was at capacity. It was mostly locals, but there also a number of people that had driven an hour or more so they could be there.
President and CEO of PanCon Layton Croft was behind the microphone to moderate the session. Derek McBride, the project manager who is behind the proposed mine, also attended along with other PanCon management members.
The meeting started with Croft asking the crowd who was in favour of the proposed mine. One person raised their hand. He then asked who wasn’t in the favour of the mine. The rest of the room raised their hands. Croft, chuckling, said that is why they’re here. He said he wants to have open and respectful dialogue.
A presentation was prepared by PanCon to detail what they want to do, but it was delayed by over an hour because of people interrupting Croft with questions. One person passionately questioned Croft about why people from PanCon had gone on her property without her permission. Croft apologized and said PanCon has no intentions of trespassing. Croft added that he has not authorized anyone to go onto any person’s property without permission. He reiterated that he thinks this is a misunderstanding.
The common theme among the people asking questions was that they were frustrated by the lack of communication. Croft noted that business cards with the phone numbers and emails of the five PanCon management members are available for anyone to take. He said to contact them with any questions.
An issue that plagued the session was the poor speaker system set-up. A lot of interruptions were because of people in the back yelling that they couldn’t hear.
After over an hour of being interrupted and questioned, Croft asked for people to hold their questions until the end of his presentation.
During PanCon’s presentation it was made clear that no work will be done until the environmental assessment and area assessments are done. Croft noted that it will be released to the public when it’s completed. During the project, he showed a slide detailing the life-cycle of a mine. PanCon’s McCribe project is at the mineral exploration stage which, according to Croft, lasts 3 to 14 years depending on the project. Croft said during the meeting that as a publicly traded company, they are bound by law to do certain things. He said they will do everything they are required to do by law and locally to make sure no negative effects are left on the environment.
After Croft finished speaking, Ugo Lapointe of MineWatch Canada spoke. He mentioned that they have a registry of over 20 mining spills in Canada over the last decade. When Lapointe spoke with My Bancroft Now last week, he mentioned that mining waste and the effects it could have on the area. Lapointe said that the dust is most prominent with open pit mines. The waste in the air from the dust can be incredibly dangerous in some cases, Lapointe said. Croft later said that since PanCon is an exploration company, they don’t know yet if the proposed mine will be an open-pit mine.
At the end of Lapointe’s presentation he humorously added that he’s never heard of a company coming in to a town and saying they’ll screw up the environment or do other negative things.
At the end of the session, there was a debate on how to handle future sessions. It was suggested that people be split up into groups of 50 or less, but that was shot down. The attendees didn’t want to be split up. One person shouted that everyone needs to hear everything. Another person suggested the next session be streamed online, which Croft said he was open to doing.
More information on the “McBride Ni-Co-Cu Project” can be found here. The information presented by Ugo Lapointe can be found here.
The date of the next session has yet to be announced.