A proposed gravel mine on McNab Creek was met with boisterous opposition from approximately 150 residents who crammed into a yoga studio at Eagleridge Community Centre in Horseshoe Bay to hear details about the project May 23.
If approved, the mine would include a pit and a processing plant located on 87 of the 320 hectares purchased by Burnco Rock Products in 2008. The mine would produce approximately one million tonnes of gravel a year for the next 20 years according to company representatives.
Residents, some of whom called for the company to pack up and get out of town, cited air quality concerns and the threat to the newly rejuvenated marine life as their chief objections.
"It's only been in the last year or 18 months that we've seen dolphins in Howe Sound," said Patrick Yearwood, a lawyer who owns property just south of the project.
The mine, which would employ 12 full-time workers, including one or two caretakers, would likely be operational for 300 days a year, according to Derek Holmes, a regional manager with Burnco.
Despite plans to operate from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Holmes did not rule out the possibility of drastically increasing productivity.
"We don't anticipate operating 24 hours a day," Holmes said. "The market will determine how much material is coming out of there."
Asked if the mine would operate 24 hours a day, Holmes said: "We'd like to."
"I think that's when the temperature in the room went up 20 degrees," said Jeff Gau, a spokesman for the Future of Howe Sound Society.
The mine would pose an economic danger, according to Gau.
"That's not a lot of revenue and that's not a lot of jobs and the equation doesn't make sense," Gau said of Burnco's projections. "The cost to B.C. tourism could be absolutely humongous."
Responding to numerous calls to find another location for the mine, Holmes explained the importance of using Howe Sound as a base of operations.
"The market is Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland," he said. "[The mine] has to be close to the source that is used."
The notion of replacing the spawning channel with a new channel on the western side of the lake also drew the ire of many in attendance.
"The pit is proposed right where the spawning channel is," Holmes explained. "It's our feeling, and certainly that of the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans), that a lot better could be done on that site."
Compromised air quality due to high winds and heavy dust was also a concern.
"A good proportion of the extraction process is wet anyway, and that's going to reduce dust," Holmes said.
The conveyors, which would transport the gravel from the pit to a washing station and then to a barge, would run over trays designed to catch silt and might also be enclosed in pipe to shield the aggregate from winds.
The gravel will also be sprayed with a fine mist at several stages of the process, Holmes told the crowd.
Brigitta von Krosigk, a Lions Bay resident who said she lived next to the Brunswick Pit, a gravel mine near the Sea to Sky Highway, disagreed.
"Even if you try to wet it, with the winds the mist will go one way and the dust will go another," she said
Tom McConnell echoed Krosigk's position.
"It's going to be impossible for them to mitigate the dust in July and August," he said. "There's no water."
An accident is inevitable, according to McConnell.
"You've got an ocean on one side, a 70-foot [22-metre] deep lake on the other side and filtered gravel between. How are you going to control the water flow?"
The project has yet to win support from the DFO.
A June 2011 letter signed by DFO regional director Susan Farlinger stated the environmental watchdog had "serious concerns" about the mine.
"Based on all the information presently available, the project represents a high risk to salmon and salmon habitat," Farlinger stated.
"We've had follow-up meetings with DFO since that letter," Holmes said, describing the environmental group as "cautiously optimistic."
Responding to a question about noise concerns, Holmes said the processing equipment would be enclosed and bordered by trees to create a sound buffer.
Burnco's draft proposal has not been submitted to provincial or federal government assessment offices.
Asked about possible community benefits for the mine, company vice-president Kim Titus cited the Calgary company's history of donating money to help build playgrounds and hockey arenas.
"We hadn't actually looked at the proposal," said Gambier Island trustee Jan Hagedorn. "This is just the beginning. There will be many more opportunities for you to be heard."
