“Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back” 88 days ‘til Relay for Life, May 26th.
NEW CURATOR
STEELHEADS
The Bulkley Valley Museum’s new curator settles into role.
The Steelheads still have their heads up after loss.
OUR TOWN/A5
SPORTS/A9
Praise-A-Reader Edition
THE INTERIOR NEWS 105th th Year - Week 9
Smithers,, B.C.
Wednesday, y, Februaryy 29,, 2012
www.interior-news.com
FASHION
SHOW HOSPITAL SUPPORT A cash infusion for Wrinch Memorial helps with training.
THREE RIVERS/B3
INSIDE LETTERS A7 SPORTS A9 COMMUNITY A13 THREE RIVERS B1 CLASSIFIEDS B5
FEATURES A3 RAYZ BOARDSHOP A9 INVESTORS GROUP
WEATHER Wednesday HIGH: 0 LOW: -5
Thursday HIGH: 1 LOW: -4
Friday HIGH: 3 LOW: -6
Saturday HIGH: 4 LOW: -2
Sunday HIGH: 2 LOW: -5
Submitted
Students at Smithers Secondary School hosted a fashion show in the Round Room last Wednesday, displaying an assortment of styles created by the students themselves.
Single g Copy py • $1.34 (($1.20 $1.20 + 14¢ HST))
Town battles ice conditions By Cameron Orr Smithers/Interior News
The Town of Smithers is burning through more fuel to keep up with an unusually icy winter. The town said last week that they’ve gone through 36,511 litres of diesel in snow clearing operations during the period of November and December 2011, and January this year. That’s a 37 per cent rise from the same period the year before which saw them go through 26,586 litres. Unusual temperatures for the winter, with continual freezethaw, as well as rain, which started before Christmas and continues this month,
have been hard on the town. “We’re certainly taking it seriously and our public works department has been working like crazy to do everything they can to stay on top of it,” said Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach. The town notes that conditions have also done a number for pothole growth and increased cracking on roads. Council in response have recommended increased funding for the road patching program in 2012. Bachrach also added that they’ll have to look at possibly raising the general road maintenance budget if this sort of winter is going to be repeated.
Rock spending on a roll in northwestern region By Cameron Orr Smithers / Interior News
To a non-geologist onlooker, Rock Talk may cause eyes to glaze with an abundance of technical jargon. However the annual Smithers-based conference on mineral exploration and mining had some rocking good news. Christine Ogryzlo, communications director for the Smithers Exploration Group, said that there are two
main things that people in the Bulkley Valley should know about the industry this year. “First of all, northwestern British Columbia is the busiest part of this province as a dense area for mineral exploration. In 2011, half of the expenditures on mineral exploration took place in northwestern British Columbia. There was a record $220 million spent on exploration...That’s pretty impressive,” she said.
The other thing that people should know is that Smithers itself has a “critical mass” of professionals and support companies for the industry. “Smithers plays a very important role in the projects that are all the way...to the Yukon border.” Smithers continues to be an attractive town for the industry with the abundance of professionals and also the well-serviced airport. Ogryzlo also said
that there is no reason to expect the high level of spending on exploration for the region to go down anytime soon. “That’s because of the driving of the commodity prices. Commodity prices for copper, for gold, any of the precious metals, are at record highs,” she said. In regional geologist Jeff Kyba’s presentation he pointed out that the $220 million spent in the northwest is an increase of $48
million from 2010, and includes at least 54 drilling projects and 21 projects with over $2 million in expenditures. In the Omenica region, exploration spending also grew to $71.5 million, according to the report of John DeGrace, a contraction regional geologist based in Prince George. That is an increase from $33 million in 2010. Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach thinks that Smithers is
poised to benefit from industry activity in the coming years. He added that the town is lucky to have the Smithers Exploration Group to promote exploration activity in the area. Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson, also the official opposition’s mining critic, said that he will take mining issues to the legislature and will be questioning the government on priority spending for the mining sector. See ROCKS on Page A4