EDITORIAL – KGHM Ajax can, should and will pay the extra $200,000
Old Ajax pit. (KGHM Ajax photo)
An ArmchairMayor editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
IT MIGHT SEEM like a roll of the dice, this decision by City council on Tuesday to approve spending another $200,000 to extend a study by SLR Consulting on the proposed Ajax copper mine.
And, in the same breath, voting to ask KGHM Ajax to pay for it.
How can council commit to taxpayers’ paying the shot, then ask KGHM to pay it at the same time?
KGHM has no choice. It can’t risk annoying City council again. As powerful as this Polish mining giant is, it discovered the folly of making councillors angry when it tried to back out of discussions on a community benefits deal. Even council members who have remained steadfastly neutral on the pros and cons of the mine let it be known in no uncertain terms what they thought of that.
How would it look if KGHM, which readily agreed to the initial $300,000 that the study was supposed to cost, refused to ante up what’s needed to complete the task (public works director Jen Fretz says the money is essential to get the job done — no shortcuts)?
Then, of course, it can be argued that KGHM is responsible for the problem in the first place, since it asked for and received a pause in the process, which complicated the SLR review.
After a spring and summer of public relations embarrassments, KGHM doesn’t need another one.
But debate on the issue raised another point that’s a bit tricky. After Coun. Donovan Cavers fired a couple of shots at KGHM, Coun. Pat Wallace expressed concern about colleagues who “make derogatory remarks about the mine.”
She made the comment in the context of maintaining council’s official neutrality, but it highlighted the tightrope councillors walk in retaining the right to comment freely while at the same time asking the proponent for money.
Nevertheless, Kamloops taxpayers need not be overly concerned that they’ll be called upon to put up the $200,000. KGHM will write another cheque.
Got an opinion? Leave a comment here or write us a letter.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
This story strikes me as being very similar to Trump telling Mexico that they will pay for “The Wall”. Kamloops being Trump.
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Enough! I am tired of this council. I hope when it comes to the next election, that people stand up for progress. No one is going to change their minds about the mine. It doesn’t matter what any report says.
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The arrogance in this article is astounding!
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How so?!
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When people show you who they are believe them! This council has shown us all that they are a one sided show with guaranteed repeat episodes by Donovan, Dudy and Dennis. Take note Kamloops of both the negligence of your civic leaders and the clear incompetence of SLR Consulting. Not the best advertisement for companies looking to do business.
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So KGHM pays the extra $200,000 to complete the review, then if the review fails, the Polish government could seek a refund of the money the Polish people paid.
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No. it is not wrong to expect companies to pay for costs associated with their potential business plans. If their plans are good, they should reap the benefits; if bad they should pay the costs!
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Except that the council has made NO promise that it will vote along with the results of the study. There has already been HUNDREDS of studies and yet for some reason the council is refusing to look at these studies done by specialists in the respective fields of study. I want a commitment that the council will actually consider the results of the SLR study. That is, if SLR says the mine is safe with the mitigation plans in place, then I want a commitment from Cavers, Lange, Walsh and Duty to vote accordingly and put this to rest! For example, why do we send Lange across Canada to view a similar mine within a City and the residents and council of that City showed her how wonderful the mine is for them and how fantastic the mine can be operated without dust or noise. They laughed when they heard how far away our mine would be from Kamloops! And yet, Lange basically says, well thanks for the cash Kamloops, had a nice all expenses paid trip, learned that mine CAN be operated safely within a city, but meh, nope, not changing my mind. I do not think that Ajax should put more money into a study, when this council will never change their minds anyway.
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Is anyone really surprised by this miss management? This city throws copious amounts of cash out the window and then keeps clawing more tax money from us to cover their crap job. Its just a joke and I can’t imagine its going to get any better until these incapable people are gone.
https://www.facebook.com/changeforkamloops/?fref=ts
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Its absolutely outlandish but totally expected. We all knew that SLR would never manage to study a project of this size and nature that has already had millions and millions of dollars in research. What will throwing another $200,000 at this ridiculous table top study prove other than that they’ll likely return to the table with yet another excuse for their blown budget. Give your heads a shake Kamloops. This groups is neither qualified or capable of completing a biased review and nothing NOT ONE DAMN WORD will ever be good enough for the 4 city councillors nor their KAPA gods. City hall is indeed a gong show!
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You got that right girl! You need to run for council and fight for industry and investment in our city. We need people like you!!
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And KGHM has been so perfect in their management of this project? Can you remind me whether they fired all those people for fun or from incompetent planning?
If their report was complete in the first place SLR would have come in on budget.
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WE (the people) do not elect anybody for their neutrality,rather for the stance they are willing to take to fullfill their and our values about life and environment
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There you go again Tony Brummell pretending you speak for the entire city when you absolutely do not. You speak for and represent a minority group of Environmental extremists and your hardly qualified to do that. We the people certainly do elect government officials expecting them to remain neutral on issues that affect ALL voters and tax payers. Certain people get elected by large self interest groups which makes their neutrality impossible and we all know how that works with this council in particular. ;)
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I am so sick of KAPA running city council. How can these councillors say what they say, protest the project and then have the cahonas to vote in favor of this request? What an obtuse bunch!
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I would say that this is a rather ignorant statement.It tells me that you simply do not understand the amount of time required to dig for correct answers.when KGHM withholds empiracle data it may make the end result questionable.The amount of time required is protracted and other sources of information must be found.This can easily double the time factor
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With all due respect, they were hired to do a review…not a cross examination. The Provincial legal authority, the EAO is plumbing the depths of the application. I don’t doubt for a second that KGHM hasn’t dotted every “i” and crossed every “t”. That said if I find a typo in a news story, or blog post I don’t dismiss the content as wrong because of a minor error.
As an aside I did do in-depth policy research for 10 years so my understanding is arguably more comprehensive than your one-sided advocacy.
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Peter, What Tony Brummell and his “ignorant statement” really meant to say was that no amount of time or study will ever be enough to change his mind or his friends minds. Kghm needs to stand up and fight this ignorance and arrogance. Enough already
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Mel give it a rest. We all get that you are against ajax but saying that ajax will be be “called upon to put up the $200,000. KGHM will write another cheque” is just ridiculous. Kghm should give these councillors another 200k so when their minds are cast in stone, when they spew rude insults or when they say “nothing will change their minds.” The only thing more idiotic than your comment is the fact that you actually think this council has the right to ask in the first place.
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If you were to pay the consultants $150.00 per hour they have had 2,000 man hours (a full year at 8 hours/day) to study the proposal from KGHM. They are either not very good at what they are doing, or, they are “churning” the file for more billable hours. No wonder all things City Hall seem to be such a gong show. This not to mention the efforts of EA office and the unpaid digging by the naysayers. The local economy is sucking in spades for those not working for government or living on pensions. What part of “perfect is the enemy of good” are you failing to grasp here?
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