Uranium Exploration in the Haliburton Area
As you may or may not be aware, the Highlands East and Bancroft areas are actively being staked and claimed for potential uranium mining and exploration. Currently, roughly 17% of Monmouth township has been staked (appox. 8500 acres). This includes both private property and crown land. El Nino Ventures, one of the two larger stakeholders in Monmouth, has claimed a total of 9,765 acres in Faraday, Cardiff and Monmouth townships and is currently exploring the Amalgamated Rare Earth claim in Monmouth. Another prospector has claimed roughly 5,000 acres in Monmouth.
Your land could be staked! In Ontario, most property owners hold only the surface rights and not the mineral rights to their land. This means a prospector (anyone who applies and pays the $25 licence fee) could come on to your land without being required to notify you and claim the mineral rights. The mineral rights holder can then start exploring (this could include drilling, digging, stripping, building roads, etc. ) on your land. Under the Ontario Mining Act, there is nothing the surface rights owner can do to stop this. But we can try! For more information on mining and mineral rights in Ontario, follow this link to the Government of Ontario website.
How This Affects You
Health: Uranium causes cancer! This report from the BC Medical Association triggered a seven year moratorium on uranium mining in BC.
Environment: Potential contamination of drinking water. The Irondale River runs right through one of the large claims. The Irondale links to the Burnt River and the Drag River which feed many of the lakes in Haliburton. Open pit uranium mining WILL contaminate the river. Any accident would cause widespread environmental catastrophe. Though government might say safety is their highest priority, even the most modern uranium mines in Saskatchewan have flooded and been closed down. 100 PERCENT SAFETY CANNOT BE GUARANTEED!
Nuclear energy is dirty energy, don't be hoodwinked by those who tell you it's "clean energy". This website from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission lists the Bicroft and Dyno Mines in Cardiff, which were producing uranium mines in the 1950's, as being under a waste facility licence.The mine tailings sat for 40 years before anything was done and then all they did was berm the "pit". (I have been told by a friend that the "pit" is actually a swamp between two lakes, more on this soon). The tailings from uranium mining have a half life of a half million years. Since there is no ideal way of storing radioactive waste, the waste dumps will need to be managed by future generations in perpetuity to avoid environmental disaster. If we mine uranium now, we leave a colossal mess for future generations.
Property: Uranium mining and exploration will decrease the value of your property! Would you buy land that was claimed for potential uranium mining? Would you want to live near a uranium mine? Would you want to live down river from one?
Who we are
We are a group of residents in the Highlands East area who are concerned about the detrimental effects that uranium mining and exploration will have on our health, our environment and our homes. Many of us are directly impacted by the staking activity that has gone on in our area. Contact us at fighturanium@gmail.com.
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