Read this editorial from Mike Smyth in The Province, condemning the BC Liberals’ decision to pay a mining company $30 million for illegally burying its application to min uranium in BC.

“Compensating a mining company for expropriation of their mineral
rights is not unusual. The question here is whether B.C. taxpayers were
burned for an extraordinarily large amount because the government broke
the law in dealing with the company, and the government didn’t want its
dirty-laundry hamper being tipped over in court.

In a case like
this a mining company would normally be compensated for its “sunk costs”
– the amount of money it had spent on its mineral claim. It’s estimated
Boss Power spent less than $5 million trying to develop the uranium
deposit. Now the government is refusing to release internal legal documents showing how the $30-million figure was arrived at. I didn’t think anything could stink worse than the B.C. Rail plea bargain. This one comes close. And the stench is still rising.” (Oct. 25, 2011)