Not a critical mineral

LS

I only found out about this opportunity to comment this evening, shortly before the 30 April deadline. Hence i have no opportunity to read these documents in detail, but I have read a lot about these plans in recent months and I'm a geologist with nearly 50 years training and experience, so I believe that I have the right to be heard. 

As the world is decarbonizing in order to reduce emissions and prevent the worst of man-made climate change effects, our economies are shifting away from fossil fuel based resources into electricity based resources. This shift is causing a huge shift in the demand of earth resources. Suddenly we need lithium for powering batteries, for example. 

We need other minerals too. Cobalt and Nickel are also essential for batteries. Copper is essential for wiring. Aluminum for building wind turbines. Silicate (sand) for solar panels. Etc. 

Do we need gold? No. Gold is not considered a critical mineral. Natural Resources Canada is clear about this: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/critical-minerals/23414. And the much bigger United States Geological Survey doesn't list gold either as a critical mineral: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1802

An extraordinary amount of gold is used for jewelry. Then there's a large amount of gold that's held as bullion by central banks - a rather baffling habit, to be honest. Together, these two uses amount to nearly 90% of all gold used worldwide. In other words, it's a luxury item. We don't really need it. 

Canada has huge reserves of gold, most of it in Quebec where it's mined below ground. If we must mine this earth, then let's focus mining on those areas where the reserves are the greatest. That's not always easy to do but for gold it's easy. Let Quebec mine it. 

As the world is going through a catastrophic biodiversity collapse, we humans must make every effort to not destroy more of our planet than is absolutely necessary. Gold is not necessary. Trees are necessary. Clean rivers are necessary - aquatic life dies in streams poisoned by the seepage from gold mine tailings ponds. 

The magic word "jobs" doesn't hold. The Touquoy mine workers voted to unionize because they are so poorly paid and their benefits are below par. This is in complete conflict with the misinformation campaign of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS). On top of everything, Atlantic Gold (owned by Australia's Santa Barbara Corp) hasn't paid a penny in corporate taxes yet. The short term jobs gain is the long term loss of our children and grandchildren. They will have to live in a moonscape as Nova Scotia gets stripped of its forests for short term wealth gain. 

We don't need gold mines in Nova Scotia. The world doesn't need the gold and Nova Scotia don't need the inevitable pollution. Do. Not. Proceed. With. This. Mine