By Denise Bellas
As a local Grass Valley resident, I want to pose questions and voice my opinions in regards to the reopening of the Idaho Maryland Mine by Rise Gold Corp. Mr. Benjamin Mossman, as CEO of Rise Gold Corp., is currently enticing investors with high expectations of gold returns, but seems to neglect an awful lot of information in their marketing campaign.
I understand that their primary goal is to acquire money to restart the Idaho Maryland Mine in our town. The CEO has been in the marketing phase of pushing that forward through his many videos and website articles. I understand that our community has many views on mining. Looking forward, it seems to be very questionable as to how this will impact our town. We all enjoy the history of mining, but I doubt that very few of us would appreciate an active mine in our backyard and mining debris running through the Nevada County tributaries.
As a homeowner who lives on Wolf Creek, I often see adults and kids fishing, swimming and enjoying the environment of the creek. With this in mind, I have to ask myself are the benefits of this mine worth the potential risk to Wolf Creek and our community?
We will be allowing Rise Gold to release water from the mine down and into Wolf Creek. This could impact our children and our community, also our property values. I was rather upset when I thought about this scenario. So, I googled Mr. Benjamin Mossman to get an idea of how ethical he has been in the past and looking for some signs of integrity. He markets the company and the project in such a glowing way. I believe, that the past often predicts the future.
I found information on one of Mr. Mossman recent past projects, Banks Island Gold Limited in Canada. As president and CEO, Mr. Mossman created a company that ended in bankruptcy, was charged with many environmental violations and had their $420,000 security bond confiscated by the Ministry of Energy and Mines to clean the polluted site. According to the Government of Canada’s website, “on July 13, 2018, Mossman was found guilty of one violation of the Fisheries Act ($7,500) and one violation of the Provincial Environmental Management Act ($7,500).”
I was so upset that we are even considering a company run by this person. I personally believe, based on his past actions, I do not trust that he is a person of integrity. I do not believe that he will act in an ethical way. I do not believe he will value the preservation of our community and our environment over maximizing profits.
Even in the best of circumstances, mining will impact our community. Whether through day-to-day operations or some unforeseen consequences. Because of this, I believe we as a community need to think long and hard before reopening the Idaho Maryland Mine. I have thought long and hard about this and I do not think this mine should ever be reopen.
And, certainly not by a company like Rise Gold. Are they just a song and dance management, with a shady past? Can we really trust this company? I fear not.
Denise Bellas lives in Grass Valley.