KGHM International buys ranch near Ajax; little choice but to sell say the owners

By MEL ROTHENBURGER

NEWS/ AJAX — As KGHM International prepares to make an announcement Thursday about new developments in plans for the Ajax open-pit copper mine, one ranching family says it has reluctantly sold its land to the mining giant.

Mine spokesman Robert Koopmans declined comment today on whether the Thursday announcement involves the acquisition of more property to allow re-alignment of mine infrastructure.

Richard and Sharon Antoniak said due to a confidentiality agreement they can’t disclose how much KGHM paid for their 163 acres on Goose Lake Road.

The Antoniaks said they didn’t want to sell but feared they would end up being “land-locked” by other properties owned by KGHM and that their property value would be affected.

“Our choices were bad, bad and worse,” Sharon Antoniak told The Armchair Mayor News.

“Our options were zip. We’re simply without a home.”

They said transfer of the title has been completed but the family is still living in their home, leasing it back from KGHM until June 30, 2015. They said they don’t know yet what they’ll do when the lease runs out.

“We didn’t want to sell,” said Richard Antoniak. “If the mine would go away we would gladly give their money back. We do not choose to have this mine here.”

George Little, who owns the Little Ranch adjacent to Antoniaks’, declined comment Monday on any recent discussions he’s had with KGHM.

Little said last August that KGHM had purchased 1,300 acres of his 4,000 acres and had asked about buying more.

Little, 80, was born on the Little Ranch and has lived there all his life.

“I don’t want to move,” he told the Kamloops Daily News last year. “We’ve got a pretty good life up here.”

Last August, KGHM International announced it was postponing its environmental assessment application in order to re-evaluate ore deposits. At that time, reports said the project’s tailings storage and waste rock facilities might move south, taking them further from the nearest residential areas.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency told KGHM in 2011 their location posed potential “adverse effects” on the water quality of Inks Lake, Jacko Lake and Peterson Creek.

The initial plan showed them about 1.4 kilometres away from Aberdeen.

More recently, KGHM said a new footprint for the proposed mine would be announced soon. The application is expected to be ready early next year.

Yves Lacasse, KGHM International’s external affairs manager, has declined discussing any negotiations with ranchers.