Opposed to Beaver Dam Mine project

To the Assessment panel:

I have grandchildren.  I want them to know we responsibly cared for their home, i.e. this province, this country, this planet; which means they will have clean drinking water, forests inhabited by many creatures and diverse plant life and community that supports each other economically and socially.  This will not happen if Nova Scotia government and the Federal government continue to believe foreign investment will save us and provide for our needs.  

As the ancient Beowolf poem said gold produces infectious greed and we are better off without it.  As has been well documented, there is enough gold in storage to supply us for centuries.  And we have not sufficiently explored investing in recyling existing gold in devices, teeth, jewelry, etc. Gold has not been identified as a critical mineral in the Canadian Federal Critical Mineral list (https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/critical-minerals/23414).  Nor have we cleaned up the environmental messes in this Province created by former gold mines which were much smaller in scale than the proposed Beaver Dam project.

Atlantic Gold/St Barbara has proven their greed and deceit and our province has encouraged that with antiquated mining restrictions.  The Mining Assoc of NS & NS Dept of Energy & Mines "open for business campaign" describe NS as an 'easy place to do business due to lack of restrictive regulations;  low royality rates (among the lowest in the world: 1% of net while other jurisdictions are at 5-7% of gross), subsidies and currently allowing multiple court stays for Federal & Provincial environmental infractions rather than pursuing legal justice against Atlantic Gold : laid by Environment Canada on March 21, 2021 under the federal Fisheries Act relate to sedimentation and fish habitat AND 32 provincial environmental charges (https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/st-barbara-unit-faces-32-charges-over-alleged-infractions-at-canadian-gold-mine-61888435)   

And there is a law suit pending for violent arrest may 23 2019 of an old man who asked a question in a public meeting that Atlantic Gold did not like: https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/roughed-up-by-the-rcmp-john-perkins-sues-atlantic-gold-and-the-cops/

The enviromental violations, treatment of humans (workers at Touquoy seeking unionization due to poor working conditions and violent arrest of citizen cited above), choice of open pit vs. undergound mining are enough evidence to show that this is not an enviornmentally responsible company that cares at all about the people of Nova Scotia.

Impact in the rivers will be substantial if this project goes through according to The Nova Scotia Salmon Association spokesperson, Edmund Halfyard:  "you couldn’t pick two worse spots to plant gold mines than Beaver Dam and Cochrane Hill, owing specifically to the fact that not only are these some of the last bastions of Atlantic salmon where we see real populations remaining, where we have a chance of recovery in them, and where there’s actually been a lot of effort spent."  https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/environment/sacrificing-wild-atlantic-salmon-for-gold/

Economics: Atlantic Gold only states the project will bring jobs to rural areas and money to the Province. 

The assertion of economic benefit is vague, without numbers to back it up. The analysis is summarised in Section 6.16.2 as:

"Positive socio-economic impacts are associated with the Project, including long-term employment gain and/or sustained activity within the area. All phases of the Project will provide employment opportunities for local residents and Indigenous Peoples, as well as provide tax revenue for the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government. Indirect employment will be generated by the Project through the use of external contractors and suppliers."

It does not say how this will happen and so far at Touquoy most of the jobs are given to people who are already employed or they recruit people to come and live in Nova Scotia and claim they are hiring 'locals'.  There is no accounting for the cost of damage to roads that were not built for the kind of constant truck traffic that will be generated; the costs for health care of residents and workers affected by toxic dust, toxins in the water, mental stress; the loss of tourism and cost of eco system loss - especially with the current climate crisis. - and to water in the rivers and watersheds in the surrounding area.  There is also no consideration for the cost of long term pollution cleanup from tailings pond failtures and continue toxic drainage into the watershed.

Please DO NOT approve this project.  The legacy of this kind of greed will be passed onto future generations and cause the present population great harm.  One has only to look at gold mines in other countries to see the devastation to people and the environment.  We DO NOT NEED this to build a healthy economy in Nova Scotia

Sincerely,

Margaretta Sander

Earltown, NS