Just Not ready

[Topper]

It is too late to moan and bitch about 10 years of a lack of action. Even before that any major development spent years going through Federal and or Provincial permitting and then a decade of litigation.

Unless permitting is streamlined with definitive timelines and the Court challenges limited, Nothing changes.

The BC Mineral Claim Staking rules were changed a couple of years ago to comply with DRIPA. You now go online, select the area you wish to stake then once a month the Government will send the info out to the relevant Aboriginal Groups, multiple Bands could have overlapping land claims, for comment. They have 90-120 days to comment and may request that no claims be given because of cultural sensitivity. Now, for months after staking the claims, the prospector or company can apply for a work permit on the claims detailing what and where they intend to work on the claims, the amount of disturbance (drill roads, drill sites, trenches) and wait 8 months to a year and a half for that to be granted.

By this time, investors have packed up and taken their money elsewhere.

Before this, as part of the work permit process, companies would meet with the Bands, lay out their plans and ensure a few Band members got some work from the project. These meeting were always a challenge. Usually held in the Band Office, there would be a gauntlet of people to walk through muttering "not on my land white man" and "I hope you brought your cheque book". The scheduled meeting time would come and pass with maybe only one, more often than not, the Chief, of the 10 people you were to meet with present. A hour would pass, more people would come and go and finally the Chief would say to get started. Twenty minute or more later, someone else would stumble in, stinking of beer and want the meeting to start over. Now two hours from the scheduled start, someone else arrives with the same request because they were busy trying to get their nieces boyfriend's car started.

They were content that you'd hire a few and the Chief would select them to be ready on the given day. Three days in all the Band members working on the job need the day off for some sort of function on the Rez. The day they are to return, access to the project is blocked because you works a day without them. A call to the Chief sorts it all out for the following day. Within a week all the Band members you've hired have quit.

Or here's another one. A company has a permit for 1.6 hectares of disturbance for drill sites and 1.5 hectares disturbance for trench. They are running out of disturbed area for additional drill sites, but haven't done any trenching. They apply to the Government to have their permit amended to move disturbed area from trench to drill sites. No change in total disturbed area. The Government sends it back out to the two Bands with land claims on the area. One Band says no problem, go ahead. The other Band says no, they haven't been doing the archeology studies on the areas before disturbing them. The company says yes we have and we have been sending them to you as soon as we receive them from the archeologist and before building any sites. The Band replies that the arch studies are not acceptable, the company used the other Band's preferred arch contractor not their preferred arch contractor. This goes on for 18 months, the project is at a standstill. Finally the Deputy Minister has to get involved.

Yet another, the Chief recommends her useless son as one of the hires. The kid barely functions, complains to his mother that he has to work in the rain. She drives into camp just in time for dinner, and 3/4s of our coca cola supply, to tell us she doesn't want her son working in the mountains in the rain as it is too dangerous...then tells us how her grand parents used to berry pick all over those same mountains and it would be really nice if we could give fat ass a ride into the mountains on a sunny day so she could berry pick just as he ancestors did.

This is for a little podunk exploration project let alone what Coastal Gas had to go through around Houston.

[donlever]

Reality bites....

[Meds]

We aren’t allowed to talk about reality anymore though. It’s culturally insensitive.

[donlever]

...also unfortunately fucks with a savvy old geologists career.

[Topper]

AI tells me savvy old geologists are now working internationally

[Meds]

But AI can only regurgitate the information that is put into it.....

[Topper]

Does AI eat bananas and rice at the Learing Centre?

[Meds]

Does AI eat bananas and rice at the Learing Centre?

Lol.