In the February 3, 2012 Kamloops Daily News, Frances Vyse describes the route many people use to get to the to the Stake Lake ski trails as the
steep, narrow, winding road on which the mine proponent wishes to put mine-related traffic and ore-carrying trucks bound for Vancouver.This is the route many Lac Le Jeune residents drive every day. Children ride the school bus along this road. Cowboys move cattle every spring and fall. Cyclists use it daily in the summer months. For residents who are accustomed to the peaceful drive through the grasslands and Douglas fir timberlands around Jocko Creek Ranch, and who have stories and photographs of the many moose, deer, bears, and coyotes they have encountered along this road, it is difficult to imagine what this increase in traffic will bring, much less the change in landscape caused by the Ajax Mine project.
The January 11, 2012 draft Ajax Mine Application Information Requirements (AIR) document (PDF) outlines access to the mine as follows:
Access to the proposed Project from Kamloops is via exit 366 off the Trans-Canada Highway (No. 1), east along Frontage Road, and then south along Lac Le Jeune Road to the old Afton Mine Haul Road near the inks Lake Road Junction, a road distance of approximately 9 km.From this statement we learn how vehicles will get to the mine from Kamloops. But what about those travelling to and from the other direction? Keep in mind that we're not just talking about trucks hauling materials from the mine. This traffic includes several hundred commuters, as well as service, support and supply vehicles. Also keep in mind that an operation like this runs around the clock.
The Ajax Cooper-Gold Project Fact Booklet delivered to our mailboxes this month states:
Concentrate will be transported via Lac Le Jeune Highway to the Port of Vancouver.Highway? I think they mean to say the long, narrow, winding, spectacular country road that Lac Le Jeune residents enjoy every day.
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| Jocko Creek Ranch, photo by Frank Morton |
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| Osprey in nest beside road, photo by Frank Morton |
3 comments:
It is interesting that the Lac Le Jeune HIGHWAY ( in fact a secondary ROAD not a highway, but maybe they know something we don't) will transport the ore to the Port of Vancouver. They must not want people to know the heavy (at times slow moving) trucks will actually be accessing the Coquihalla at Walloper interchange. The weight restrictions are posted on the LLJ Road at this moment....what will Ajax do every spring?
The mine people have heard from many of us on this subject plus other concerns but I wonder that anybody heard us.
And...what a shame the forest here has not been replanted. We will have no noise buffer from the increased traffic on our road.
Some of the most important questions emerge by reading between the lines! And good point, how do we know if anybody is hearing us? An important part of the process is to voice these concerns openly. If you have sent letters, let's post them on the blog. If you wrote down the questions that you asked (and better yet the responses your received) during the open house, share them! (Contact me if you need access to post sylvia@webbedfeat.com)
p.s. The Feb 9 anonymous comment is from Bev Lorimer.
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