Resource World Magazine

e d i tor's c o mment s Ellsworth D ic kson British Columbia government rejects Pacific Booker's mine It came as a shock that the BC government recently rejected the plans of Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. [BKM-TSXV] to build the Morrison Lake Mine located in the Babine Lake region 65 km north of Smithers. In the wake of the decision, the company's stock plummeted from $15.00 down to under $4.00 making it a total disaster for shareholders. Environment Minister, Terry Lake, and Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Minister, Rich Coleman, refused to issue the environmental assessment certificate based on fears that the mine could affect the sockeye salmon population and water quality in Babine Lake. The Vancouver Sun newspaper reported that Chief Wilf Adam, of the Babine First Nation said, "We're very happy." In a press release, Pacific Booker said that "as per the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act, the company was required to conduct an Environmental Assessment (EA) to determine the potential for adverse environmental, economic, social, heritage and health effects that may occur during the life cycle of the project. The company's application, prepared by qualified professionals, determined that there were no significant adverse environmental, economic, social, heritage and health effects. This was supported by a BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) commissioned independent third party review. The EAO EA also concluded that there were no significant adverse effects." There are several things wrong with the way this has played out. First, Pacific Booker Minerals has spent a great deal of money to advance the project to the point where there is recoverable metal totaling 1.37 billion lbs copper, 658,090 oz gold and 10.047 million lbs molybdenum over a mine life of 21 years. It now appears all that time and money has been wasted despite the BC Environmental Assessment Office concluding there would be no significant adverse effects. Why did the ministers allow the project to proceed for years when they would cancel it anyway? Second, there already were two formerly producing mines nearby, the Bell and Granisle, which had no adverse effects on salmon. Third, this is unfair for Pacific Booker shareholders who could only conclude that, with the company's favourable environmental studies, everything was OK. Fourth, this event will make serious explorers think twice about investing millions into BC mineral projects when they could be shut down, even with favourable environmental studies. And fifth, BC is not a major manufacturing province. Besides tourism, resource extraction is crucial to the economy. Due to the low price of BC natural gas, government revenues are way down – all the more reason to advance responsible mineral projects if the province wants to pay for healthcare, education, infrastructure and generate hundreds, if not thousands of high-paying jobs. It's important to keep in mind that nonresource export revenues in BC have been declining for the last 10 years while during the same period, metallic export revenues keep rising. Indeed, exports of metallic minerals and energy account for more than 40% of BC's international exports in 2011. Metallic mineral exports totaled $3.5 billion last year. Pacific Booker Minerals is considering all available options to respond to the Ministerial decision. The Federal EA is continuing with the Federal decision being made independently. Our 100th issue This edition of Resource World magazine marks the 100th issue. It has been a rewarding experience and we are gratified that we have found a useful place bridging the gap between mineral explorers and resource stock investors. It was a struggle to get the publication started and the 2008 stock market crash was a real challenge; however, we survived and look forward to covering and supporting the resource industry for years to come. n Ellsworth Dickson, Editor-in-Chief email: editor@resourceworld.com t: 604 484 3800 | 1 877 484 3800 F: 604 685 3833 NOVEMBER 2012 www.resourceworld.com 7

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