“If there is anything positive that has come out of this, it is that we have now taken this from being a local issue to being on the national stage,” he said.
McIntyre said he has spent a great deal of his personal time trying to draw attention to the proposed mining project, which many local residents are concerned could cause irrevocable damage to the landscape, which is home to large populations of elk, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, wintering moose, mountain goats, Mule and Whitetail deer, endangered and ancient Limber and Whitebark pines, rough fescue grass, and the world’s largest concentration of migrating Golden eagles, and also serves as critical grizzly bear habitat.
“The government has failed to place any real value on the land,” he said. “They are too quick to throw it all away or compromise it without really knowing what we’re doing.”
He went on to note that magnetite is a product which is readily available on the open market for very low cost, and that he felt there was no need to mine for it in this area.
McIntyre said he told CBC he would like to see a full public hearing on the issue.
“The longer we wait to make a decision on this, the more likely it is that it will be made in the best interest of the public,” he said. “That is all I really want.”
Former SRD Minister Ted Morton suggested that the NRCB look over the review process late last year, and that the final decision should not be made until the Land Use Framework for the South Saskatchewan Region has been completed.