Galway Metals has been given the go ahead by council to mine in an area now included in the Municipal District of St. Stephen.
The topic was the subject of debate over the last several council meetings, with multiple councillors questioning how it might work.
The company drills for samples of minerals like gold, zinc – and ultimately diamond mining.
“It’s probably going to happen, but what you have to realize is when this was approved before, the municipal areas weren’t part of the town, so there was no consultation with anybody in the rural areas … now they’ve got somebody to look out for them,” said Coun. Wade Greenlaw at a previous council meeting.
At the Oct. 2 meeting, Coin. Earl Eastman did reiterate his concern, saying he felt the cart was being put before the horse, given the town is still working on it’s new municipal plan.
“We shouldn’t we have the municipal plan done before we agree to give a mining right out,” Eastman said.
Mining is currently controlled under the Mining Act in New Brunswick, but council request Galway Metals come back to committee-of-the whole for a presentation.
It would take place near St. David Ridge Road, off Glendenning Road, through a private road. The mining is scheduled up to 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
The company sent Rob Richard – exploration manager – to explain the process. He said, at the time, the mining would take place on private land and is nearly 970 metres from the nearest home.
Richard also explained how many departments had reviewed the application for mining, including the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, as well as, the Professional Association of Engineers and Geoscientists.
He also assured council about the process for any incidents of water contamination, explaining that he has never dealt with that in his experience in the mining industry.
“So far, I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and I’ve never seen a significant change in the water.”
Council voted five to three in favor of the consent to Galway Metals, giving the company the green light on its operations.
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