Rossland’s annual Community Contributor Award has gone to the group that has been fighting a proposed magnesium mine near the city.
The award is chosen by city council from nominations presented by citizens. Mayor Andy Morel said they recognized the committee’s level of commitment.
“These are volunteers who recognize the true value of the community and surrounding area,” he said. “They’ve got environmental backgrounds, engineering backgrounds, mining backgrounds, and recognize the risk that this mining proposal has.”
Morel said while the mine’s proponents have outlined its potential benefits, he doesn’t think they outweigh the risks.
“Our community is no longer a mining community. We like to think we’re mining snow these days and obviously Rossland has transitioned into very much a strong tourism-based economy and as well as lifestyle.”
Morel said people moved to Rossland for lifestyle reasons and he feels the risks to the environment and human health in the project are too high.
He said the community has gotten behind the organization and donated money to their cause. He said it was “impressive” to see the hundreds or thousand of hours that have been logged in investigation, research, and legal work to better understand the application and its potential impacts.
“Council is very much behind the efforts and has, of course, attempted to try wherever possible at all levels to voice our opposition to this proposal as well.”
One of the members of the group who was in council chambers last week to receive the award called it an “emotional” moment.
“It’s deeply touching and I feel so honoured and the other directors certainly feel that way as well,” Melanie Mercier said.
“It’s nice to have the validation. Not that we didn’t think that our work was worth it, but to have the community get behind us on that level is just very wonderful, especially at this time where the fight continues. It’s just adding even more strength to our efforts.”
The committee is seeking judicial reviews of both the provincial government’s decision not to subject the Record Ridge project to a full environmental review as well as the mining permit that has been issued. They are also lobbying other ministries not to approve other outstanding permits.
West High Yield has said that it hopes to being construction on the mine in the second quarter of 2026.
