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VOL. 25 NO. 5
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Miners hope to ease fears
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■ Super JOCELYN CHAMPION and Alycia Iuliano of the team Skeena Cancer Cause take a break from walking at the Relay for Life at the Skeena Junior Secondary track May 12. Sunny weather was the order of the day.
THE OWNERS of a copper and gold mineral deposit north of here hope to convince the Tahltan First Nation that groundwater won’t be affected by its development. Imperial Metals received a mines permit to allow construction of the Red Chris mine May 4 and the Tahltan Central Council issued a statement the same day in opposition. Company representatives are to meet in Smithers today with technical representation from the Tahltan to go over water monitoring plans stemming from the mine’s development. The water work shop is part of a larger plan to decide upon what degree of monitoring needs to take place and how often, said Byng Giraud from Imperial Metals. “They’re not entirely satisfied with the water situation,” said Giraud last week. “We respect that.” “We’ve committed to a water plan,” said Giraud, adding the Tahltan have requested a third party review of documents pertaining to the mine’s construction. Red Chris is located approximately 500 kilometres north of Terrace. The property itself is southeast of Iskut, a mostly Tahltan village on Hwy37 North. Imperial Metals says there’s enough ore at the site for a mine life of 28 years and has a construction budget of $450 million. The mine is expected to employ 30 people and to be open by mid-2014, in time to be the first major customer to take power
from BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line which is now under construction. Environmental approval has already been granted by the provincial and federal governments and Imperial has been working on getting permits, financing and a construction schedule in place. As building the actual mine has yet to start, Giraud added that there’s still plenty of time to make sure those involved are satisfied with a water monitoring plan. The Tahltan are worried about the effects of a tailings pond that’s part of the Red Chris open pit mine plan. In the May 4 statement released the same date the mines permit was issued, Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhee said the Tahltan have been pressing their point about groundwater pollution for years. “Not everything has been done to address our concerns about long-term pollution to our water, and the damage to a landscape that our people have relied on to feed and support themselves since time immemorial. We do not accept that it can proceed without having our concerns properly addressed,” she said. For its part, the province says that a monitoring committee will be set up to keep an eye on Red Chris operations. The province and Imperial will have representatives on the committee as will the Tahltan. Imperial owns 50 per cent of the Huckleberry mine near Houston and owns the Mount Polley copper mine in the Cariboo.
Man gets one day for manslaughter By MARGARET SPEIRS A MAN who pleaded guilty to manslaughter here was released from jail the day he was sentenced. Brandon Davey, 23, was sentenced May 9 to five years in prison for the 2009 killing of Richard Woodrow, 46, in Thornhill. Davey was arrested after the incident and had been in custody for two and a half years already awaiting trial for the incident. And since the crime occurred when a policy was in place that permitted a person to deduct two days off a prison sentence for every day spent in pre-trial custody, Davey
was eligible for immediate release. But at Davey’s sentencing hearing, Mr. Justice Selwyn Romilly of the BC Supreme Court said he couldn’t give a sentence that amounts to time already served. He then ordered Davey to spend one more day in jail before being released; however, his time in court would count as that one day. So after court paperwork was completed, he was released. Davey was arrested after a Nov. 17, 2009 Thornhill incident in which Woodrow was beaten with a hammer. He later died in a Vancouver hospital.
Davey had been undergoing a trial for second degree murder that was in its third week when he decided to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter. In pronouncing sentence, Mr. Justice Romilly reviewed the circumstances of Woodrow’s death. “I’m satisfied and I find as fact the accused was provoked because of a vicious assault on someone the accused considered [a friend],” said Mister Justice Romilly. “I’m satisfied and I find as fact that Mr. Woodrow first introduced the hammer into the equation by going after the accused...Mr. Woodrow was a very big man, twice the size
at least of the 21-year-old (Davey). “I’m satisfied that Mr. Woodrow was the obvious aggressor.” When asked if he had anything to say before sentencing, Davey read from what he’d prepared. “I apologize to everyone involved in this incident,” said Davey. “It should not have happened the way it did...I apologize to all the family members of Richard’s and my own. It should never have happened,” said Davey. “I’m here today ready to be sentenced and take full responsibility.”
Cont’d Page A2
Inaugural award
Forfeit
Zone champs
Local recognized for her work on brain injury awareness \COMMUNITY A19
No profit for alleged drug dealings as thousands of dollars seized \NEWS A14
Caledonia boys rugby squad kicks off season with zone victory \SPORTS A30