A father and son in the business of exploring and developing mineral claims are suing the B.C. government for allegedly expropriating some of their claims to establish two parks, while leaving the pair’s most valuable claims untouched but inaccessible and therefore worthless after the expropriation.
Seamus Young and his son Timothy filed a notice of civil claim against Her Majesty the Queen in right of British Columbia and the Minister of Environment on February 27. They claim they held 28 contiguous mineral claims comprising the “New Moon Project,” located about 100 kilometres southwest of Smithers and covering 11,669 hectares.
The claims had “substantial value” and were being developed when, in 2008, the government expropriated 12 of the claims as part of its plan to establish both Morice Lake Park and Atna Lake Park.
However, the Youngs say that the “defendants deliberately excluded from the expropriation the most valuable mineral claims … in an attempt to avoid paying compensation,” the lawsuit states.
While they received compensation for the claims taken by the government, they say that there is no process to compensate for “injurious affection.”
“The terrain of the New Moon Project consists of rugged mountains, steep cliffs, snow fields and glaciers,” the claim states. “Before the expropriation, it could be accessed by land only through a valley into its northwest corner. That access was over land that was expropriated by the defendants and is therefore no longer available. The defendants were well aware of this at the time of the expropriation.”
Seamus and Timothy Young claim their remaining New Moon mineral claims are worthless after access to the lands was “rendered uneconomic.”
They seek damages for injurious affection. None of the allegations has been proven in court and the defendants had not filed a response by press time.
