By MARLENE STARKMAN

Time is running out
to prevent nmiineral
exploration on
Gambier Island, North
Shore councils have
been warned.

Twentieth Century Energy
Corporation has stepped up
its development scheme to
build an open pit copper-
molybdenum mine on the
northern two-thirds of the
island, said Gambier Island
Preservation Society
director Elspeth Armstrong.

Armstrong asked West
Vancouver council to
reaffirm its position op-
posing the mine “in the
strongest possible terms”
and to urge the provincial
government to reserve the
Crown land for recreational
use only.

Council agreed. The
apparent lack of concern on

the part of the government:

makes it is obvious that not
enough pressure has been

applied, said Alderman
George Morfitt. West
Vancouver MLA Alan

Wilhams was included in
council's criticism.

The company, in a report |
filed with the Vancouver
Stock Exchange in January,
said the 17,000 acres under
consideration is “sufficient
to warrant economic
feasibility projection for a
production horizon of 14
yeafs” with a “view to
commencing production by
1983” at a rate of 35,000 tons
per day.

But with 220 million acres
in the province already set
aside for mining, can’t 8,600

acres be left clear? asked

Armstrong. “The potential
for Gambier to be a major

‘recreational facility is only

due to lack of imagination.”

Situated only 30
kilometers from Vancouver,
Gambier Island could
become as precious and
familiar as Stanley Park to
Lower Mainland residents in
the future, she said.

The effects of the ex-
ploration companies ac-
tivities have already been
felt,

Several day camps which
annually send about 2,000
children to Gambier Lake
during the summer are not
this year, Armstrong said.

The government, said
Armstrong, has decided not

to make a decision until 20th
Century completes a Stage I
report on the environmental,
social and economic impact
of an open-pit mine. But by

' then it will be too late.

The company is arranging
‘European financing and “no
government alive today is
going to turn down the
possibility of a $300 million
investment.”

Island trustees are
preparing for a legal battle
between residents ahd the
company over which
provincial act rules.
Although mining is outlawed
under the 1974 Island
Trustees Act, exploration
continues anyway because
it’s permitted under the
Mineral Act.

Mining is also forbidden in
the 1977 Gambier Island
Plan in which a majority of
residents opted for limited
housing, wilderness and park
and small-scale industry.

North Van City council
has also endorsed a
resolution opposing mining
on Gambier. However it
refused to receive the

preservation society's latest
delegation on the grounds
that it was too busy.

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Environment Minister
Stephen Rogers a_ letter
reaffirming its stand against
mining...

North Van _ District
council deferred a resolution
until 20th Century Energy
Corp. has a chance to
present its--position to the
public... '

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