KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – In my Halifax Media Co-op days I did a bit of reporting on the fight to stop a large strip mine to become established at Moose River Gold Mines in the Musquodoboit Valley. Concerns at the time focused on the environmental impact on sensitive watersheds, and the lack of controls and oversight by government.
Well, environmentalists lost that fight, the mine is now well established, and at this time several gold mining initiatives elsewhere in Nova Scotia are well on their way.
Today’s weekend video, the documentary Gold Water by Cliff Seruntine takes a closer look at what these gold mining projects entail, zooming in on a new initiative to establish a mine that many believe would jeopardize the French River watershed, the source of drinking water for Tatamagouche and several other towns.
Seruntine talks with members of Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia, and with author and researcher Joan Baxter, writer of the Mill, who has done some outstanding journalism on the topic of gold mines in Nova Scotia for the Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator.
Particularly striking are the segments where Seruntine visits Moose River Gold Mines, location of the fairly recently established gold mine, and uses a drone to show the devastation caused by the strip mining operation.
The 30-minute documentary also tackles the atrocious record of these same mining companies in Central America, Nova Scotia’s laws that allow mining corporations to expropriate lands almost at will, and the general subservience of Nova Scotia politicians to these mining interests, the more remarkable since the cherished jobs they provide tend to be of relatively short duration.
Set aside a bit of time and check it out!
See also: Making mining for gold safer on the Eastern Shore
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