>  -----Original Message-----
> > From:     Smyth, Ron EM:EX
> > Sent:    Friday, November 23, 2001 12:45 PM
> > To:    EM - Geological Survey Branch  DL
> > Subject:    GSB
> >
> > It is official.
> >
> > The GSB disappears within 3 years, no more field work as of today, a small
> > group of geologists to be retained in the Ministry for "marketing".  Any
> > field survey work will be contracted out and will be paid for by
> > public-private sector partnerships.
> >
> > Ron Smyth
> > Director
> > Geological Survey Branch
> > Ministry of Energy and Mines
> > PO Box 9320, Victoria, BC, V8W 9N3
> >
> > Phone: (250) 952-0374
> > Fax:     (250) 952-0371
> > www.em.gov.bc.ca/geology
>
>
> _________________________________
>
> BC Geological Survey Action Alert!
> PLEASE read and forward to friends in the British Columbia mining industry
>
>
> The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines is targeted for
> a massive
> budget cut with elimination of a number of programs that directly assist
> mineral exploration, namely the Geological Survey Branch and the
> Prospectors
> Assistance Program.
> Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Ministry will take a 35% cut. The
> Mines side of the Ministry is targeted to take the largest part
> of this cut.
> · The GSB field program to be shut down by 2003
> · The GSB to be eliminated by 2004.
> · Prospectors Assistance Program already being dismantled
>
> We need immediate action if we are to save the Geological Survey and the
> important mineral exploration databases that we use in our exploration
> activities.
>
> Please write or E-mail the Minister of Energy and Mines and express you
> concerns and objections to these cuts, ASAP. A sample letter is included
> with this E-mail.
>
> We recommend you copy the Premier and your local MLA:
>
>     Honourable Gordon Campbell
>     Premier
>     PO Box 9041 Stn Prov Govt
>     Parliament Buildings
>     Victoria BC V8W9E1
>     E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     Victoria Office Fax: 250 387-0087 Constituency: Fax: 604 660-5488
>
>     Honourable Richard Neufeld
>     Minister of Energy and Mines
>     PO Box 9060, Stn Prov Govt
>     Parliament Buildings
>     Victoria BC V8W 9E2
>     E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     Victoria Office Fax 250 356-2965 Constituency Fax: 250 263-0104
>
> List of BC MLA E-mail and postal addresses:
>     <http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/mla/mla_alphaname.asp>
>
> *************
> extracts from the Open Cabinet meeting WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2001
> <http://www.gov.bc.ca/prem/popt/cabinet/open_cabinet_meeting_oct_24.htm>
>
> Hon. R. Neufeld: What we will do differently. These are some of the things
> that I would like to see us go to. Regulation. You can see we
> used to be big
> on regulation. We want to change that and get smaller regulation.
> Geosciences. We used to have a fairly big part of geosciences. We want to
> get a little bit away from that. Policy. We have to change that a bit and
> change it to strategic policy, Premier
>
> Hon. Collins: Dick, I'm looking at slide 15, your "Who we are -
> MEM today."
> You spoke fairly quickly about this section, so I'm trying to get
> a sense of
> what you actually meant when you were talking about it. You have the big
> circle with regulation, the big circle with geosciences, the strategic
> policy, fostering competition, shared services, and then you've
> got them all
> focusing into this subsurface asset management. You spoke in general terms
> about what you're shooting for - results-based regulation. I don't
> understand what you mean by what your shift is for geosciences.
> You said we
> do a lot of that, and we need to do a little less of it. I don't know what
> that means.
>
> Hon. R. Neufeld: Geosciences is part of the mineral mapping of
> the province.
> A fair amount of our ministry does that. What we'd like to do is
> be able to
> move those people around to wherever there is more activity. Right now
> there's not a lot in the mineral sector, basically because of the prices.
> We'd like to be able to move those people around to where we can use them
> more in doing some work on underground resources and other basins - the
> Fraser Basin, the basin in the northwest and those kinds of things.
>
> **************
> Sample letter:
> ******************
> Honourable Richard Neufeld
> Minister of Energy and Mines
> PO Box 9060, Stn Prov Govt
> Parliament Buildings
> Victoria BC V8W 9E2
>
> Dear Minister Neufeld,
>
> I am writing to express my concern about the future of the mining industry
> in BC and in particular about your comments at the Open Cabinet
> Meeting that
> your Ministry will carry out less geological mapping in the future.
>
> The BC mining industry is in a perilous state: all of the remaining eight
> metal mines will have closed by 2010 due to exhaustion of reserves and
> regrettably few prospects were discovered in the last decade that have the
> potential to be developed in time to replace them. The poor record of
> discovery reflects the ten lost years for exploration in BC due to the
> disastrous mining policies of the NDP government and should not be
> misconstrued as a reflection on BC's mineral potential.
>
> The challenge for your government is to attract exploration back to BC
> otherwise the metal mining industry will all but disappear by
> 2010 and with
> it the rural communities that depend on mining and at least 8,000 high
> paying jobs in the sector.
>
> Reducing expenditures on the Geological Survey Branch's $4.0
> million budget
> will not save taxpayers nearly as much money as it will cost them. The
> longer-term economic impacts of a cutback will be measured in the hundreds
> of millions because of lost investment coming to BC. Studies across Canada
> have shown that in Provinces with an attractive business climate
> that every
> $1 of government investment in geological surveying generates $3
> in private
> sector exploration follow-up. Cutting back on baseline geological survey
> work is short sighted and is like a financially strapped farmer
> who decides
> to save money by not buying seeds for next year's crop. You
> should be aware
> that most of the other mining provinces are becoming increasingly
> competitive for mining investment and have recently boosted their
> investment
> in the work of their geological surveys (e.g. Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
> Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta).
>
> I urge your government to fix BC's poor business climate for mining and at
> the same time to maintain or enhance your investment in baseline
> geological
> surveys of which only 15% of the Province has been surveyed.
>
> I hope that I have not misinterpreted your comments and that the mineral
> exploration industry can continue to count on the Geological Survey Branch
> to provide the baseline geoscientific data we require to explore BC.
>
> Yours
>
> cc.
> Honourable Gordon Campbell
> Premier
> PO Box 9041 Stn Prov Govt
> Parliament Buildings
> Victoria BC V8W9E1
> ********************************************
> From: BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines
> 
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 9:33 AM
> 
> Subject: BC Survey Facing Dismantling
> 
> 
> The British Columbia Geological Survey Branch is facing a complete
> dismantling.
> 
>  
> 
> Please follow the link for a backgrounder and then send a letter to
> The Minister of Energy and Mines Richard Neufeld and, if you are a BC
> resident, your local MLA supporting a halt to this dismantling.
> 
>  
> 
> Action is necessary now.  In this increasingly competitive
> environment, we believe that the BCGSB is vital for the promotion and
> assistance of mineral discovery in British Columbia.
> 
> 
> Please visit this page:
> http://www.chamberofmines.bc.ca/toolkit/bcgsbcuts.htm  for the
> necessary information.

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Geo-mineralisation is administered by the Mineral Deposits Studies Group (UK)