Dalai Lama tells Canadian gold diggers in Tibet to hit It

CFP ^ | February 15, 2005 | Judi McLeod

[MikeEdwards]

The high profile Dalai Lama may be able to do something for Canadian taxpayers that no one else is doing: force public attention to the bustling business deals springing up between China and Canada.

The Chinese government’s interest in the acquisition of Toronto-based Noranda Mines is well known.

That two Canadian mining firms are in the Dalai Lama’s bad books for having plans that could irreversibly damage the ecology of the Tibetan plateau is not so well known.

The companies–Continental Minerals of Vancouver and Inter-Citic of Toronto--had taken up invitations by China to prospect for gold and copper in its western region.

But while that part of the world may be considered China to the Chinese government, to the Dalai Lama it’s the same Tibet, for which he seeks autonomy.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet in exile. In a report from its base in Dharamsala India, the government said the 2.5 million square kilometer of Tibetan landmass targeted for mining is home to major rivers flowing through China and the rest of Asia.

The Canadian government takes a leading role in the Kyoto Protocol. Indeed the architect of Kyoto is Canadian Maurice Strong, mentor to Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The report by the Environment and Development Desk of the Central Tibetan administration, reminds Canadians that indiscriminate mining in the Tibetan plateau will also impact local and climatic patterns.

It quotes an environmental expert as saying: "In Tibet we can’t do what other provinces (of China) did–first destroying the environment then fixing it. Tibet’s environment is more fragile, we have to protect it from the start because it might not recover otherwise." . . . .