Nova Scotia Mineral Resources Act has support of mining lobby group

Nova Scotia's minister of natural resources and amining industry lobby groupsay changes coming to the Mineral Resources Act are meant to modernize a law that hasn't been changed in 25 years and strike a balance between economy and environment.

Nova Scotia's law amendments committee met on Monday morning to listen to public feedback about Bill 149 an overhaul of theact that regulates mineral resource management in the province.

For Sean Kirby, executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia the industry's main lobby groupthe overhaul is welcomed.

"To us, it's really just about balance. Every time we remove land from economic usage in the province, we're making it harder for industries like ours to create jobs for Nova Scotians," Kirby said.

Not the bill for environmental concerns

Environmental groupssaid at the meeting the bill doesn't go far enough to protectprivatelyprotected lands and doesn't address quarry production.

But Natural Resources Minister Lloyd Hines, who introduced the bill, said the focus needs to beabout mineral resourcesand less about environmental impacts. The overhaul already overlaps enough with "very robust" environmentallegislation that covers those concerns, he said.

"Much of the stuff that we're doing is aimed at streamlining the process, to reduce red tape, to essentially get rid of some of the cumbersome things in the 80s," Hines said.

That streamlining includes going from annual mineral licence renewals to doing renewals every two years, Kirby said. A new focus on public consultation introduced in the bill is also supported.

"We believe that all former mines need to be fully and properly reclaimed and that the cost of it has to be borne by the mining companies and the taxpayers should never be on the hook for reclamation," Kirby said.

Issue of quarries

Mining explorationlicencesand leases are given out to companies and prospectors by the Natural Resources Department. A mine can't advance until after a lengthy environmental assessment.

The Sierra Club Canada Foundation wants quarries included in the Mineral Resources Act.

Though a technical difference, crushed rock and sand is very different from the minerals regulated in the act, Kirby said, and legislation should be kept separate.

Under current legislation, quarries are a matter for the Environment Department.

To shift that from one department's legislation to another wouldn't be worth it because "it just isn't how it ever has been regulated in this province," Kirby said.

Hines said the act should remain about exploration.

"It is possible for an exploration to include private land," Hines said. "Unless you consented, there's no work that can be done on the private land."

The act also gives the minister of natural resources the ability to withdraw mineral rights and to decline exploration licences.