OK guys, here's the info I gathered today after a lengthy conversation with Al Jonson from the DFO;
Approx. two weeks ago the DFO received a referral from the Ministry of Energy and Mines regarding an Exploration Permit for the Chehalis River area between Boulder Creek and Statlu creek. The Exploration Permit was granted and it encompasses an area of approx 900 hectares of land. This permit allows them to do test pits and seismic tests for now but their ultimate objective is to get an Extraction Permit. The proponent is claiming there will be a 200 meter buffer zone in between the gravel pits and the river if allowed to extract.
The publicly traded company which applied for this permit is called Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Limited. Traded under the initials MSQ on the TSX-V You can find them on line at
http://www.infomine.com/index/companies/MOSQUITO_CONSOLIDATED_GOLD_MINES_LIMITED.html They are a Canadian company.
The DFO was contacted in order to get an idea of the plausibility of the proposals, and to give input regarding environmental concerns. The DFO also in turn contacted the Provincial Dept. of Fisheries for their input.
The companies proposal shows a series of pits, not just one, but several in the area listed above.
Another proposal of the proponent was to have a 15 km conveyor belt going from the main pit down to the Harrison River bridge used for transporting the gravel onto barges in order to save on trucking costs.
Al informed me that the company released a news release to their shareholders about this application, and that they wrote that the DFO was in favor of the application.
Al told me that the part of the news release about the DFO being in favor of it is untrue, and not supported by any of their communication.
Apparently they are not only interested in gravel extraction, but also in the gold in the area. There isn't much, but they have done sampling already and they figure on .5 of a gram per ton. Which equals approx $13/ton on top of the gravel value.
The gravel deposits are said to be very deep which will conflict with heavy concentrations of ground water. A main concern is that the disruption of the gravel deposits would have a negative impact on the ground water which is a contributor to the tributary creeks which feed the main stem of the Chehalis river with water during low water conditions.
( I have spent a large amount of time in the Chehalis canyon during the hot Summer months gathering broodstock for the hatchery. There were a couple of times the water was so low, and so warm that it was dangerous to catch steelhead because of the stress it would cause the fish. The fishes health is in jeopardy with water in this low,warm condition. If there was a disruption to this ground water supply (deep cold springs), it is my belief that the water in the main stem would be affected drastically. I am no expert, but Al supported this belief. Hopefully some experts will come to bat for those opposed to this operation with some helpfull ammunition.)
Al said that it is now that we should be gathering information and support to fight this application, because this company is serious about proceeding.
I will be relaying the information with several groups over the next two days, but once again-PLEASE HELP!!! This is the upper Pitt all over again guys.
I will continue to post info as I gather it, and news on any support I get from the groups I contact.
ATS.
Author
Topic: CHEHALIS RIVER GRAVEL PIT COMMING SOON ON THE UPPER RIVER-DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! (Read 28009 times)