Dear Editor:
Like most people, I am well aware of B.C.'s mineral wealth. After all, it was the gold rush that got this province going. However, I was not aware of the full extent of the mineral and mining sector's positive impact on the provincial economy, especially in Metro Vancouver.
As it turns out, B.C. has the largest number and the highest concentration of mineral exploration and development companies in the world. And the venture capital raised for mineral exploration not only supports those who live and work in the rural parts of the province, it also supports a wide range of technical jobs in Vancouver in the geosciences, engineering and environmental sciences, as well as jobs in other sectors.
Given the vastness of our province and the benefits its under-explored resources could provide to the people of this province (for example, funding for health care and education), closing off British Columbia's public lands to low-impact mineral prospecting, as some people want to see, is, to say the least, extremely short-sighted.
Pamela Gardner, Burnaby
