Province Urged to Ease Mining Regulatory Hurdles

Province Urged to Ease Mining Regulatory Hurdles

Friday, February 15, 2008 at 13:33

 

 

A mining official says the provincial government needs to review the amount of regulations it imposes on industry.

 

Pam Schwann of the Saskatchewan Mining Association says our province produced five per cent less uranium last year than the global average of uranium-producing countries.

 

She says that result came as a surprise to many, and should serve as a wake-up call.

 

Schwann says the mining sector faces a lot of red tape when it comes to constructing certain facilities in our province.

 

She says a country like Kyrgyzstan will allow a uranium processing facility to be built in as little as three years.

 

However, in Saskatchewan, she maintains the same facility would take between 8 and 10 years to complete — mainly due to regulatory hurdles.

 

Schwann says one positive development is that Ottawa committed money in its last budget to a major projects review.

 

She says, ultimately, this could reduce the timeframe of an environmental review by 50 per cent.

 

According to recent statistics, 30 nuclear reactors are under construction in the world — with 200 more being proposed.

 

Schwann says it is because of numbers like these why the government needs to pay attention.