British Columbia Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Magnesium Mine

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Published: Monday, 03 June 2024 17:59

Wildsight, a Canadian environmental organization, requested the British Columbia Government conduct an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the proposed Record Ridge project, a new serpentine (magnesium) mine near Rossland located about 7.5 miles north of the U.S. border.

Public comment to determine if an EA should be required extends to June 14th. Click here to comment or learn more about the project.

The proposed mine would produce no greater than 220,000 tons per year of quarried product over two years of operation. Metallurgical processing of the mineral rock would be done in the United States.

Public comment is sought regarding questions or concerns with project location, what activities will take place, specific knowledge of potential impacts, and the value of carrying out an EA.

A friend of the Forum, who participated in a two-day native plant inventory workshop in this wilderness area, described it as having “Lush meadows interspersed with rock outcrops and erratics (huge stray boulders) that don't make sense because there is no high mountain for them to have tumbled from. Various features create dozens of different microclimatic habitats, sometimes just meters from each other. The exposed rocky areas host plant species that are adapted to the harsh and sometimes hot and dry conditions of being exposed to the full sun all day. Our inventory included some rare plant species. We found a rare fern growing from cracks on the shaded, western aspect of the bluffs. Small copses of trees populate little swales that are moist and rich, and still had glacier lilies blooming in them, even though this isn't very high elevation. Under the taller trees there are dense understories of Pacific yew, false Solomon's seal, huckleberries, two species of native currants bushes, and wild gooseberries.”