Mining is not new, it has been going on for thousands of years. Civilization has gotten pretty good at it and governments have not always been good stewards of our environment, but in the last few decades, the provinces have been vigilant. It is a fine line they walk at times balancing the economy and environmental issues. However, the ore in the ground does not go away and it is nonrenewable, which means when it is gone, it is gone. Therefore, in risking developement by enforcing stringent environmental guidelines, they have some comfort that the value will stay in the ground with the ore until it can economically and safely removed. Beaucracy at its finest for a mining company and those needing jobs but good stewardship in everyone elses opinion. Right now, we need jobs and economic developement. Governments have laws already developed for the permitting of mines and processing. The mining companies have to provide engineering feasibility reports that demonstrate they can operate within environmental guidelines specified and have the monitoring program in place that ensures conformance is maintained and any excedances are immediately detected and remediated. Some provinces like NL have a zero net loss of habitat so the company has to restore an amount of habitat elsewhere that they are planning to disrupt. That helps deal with the protestors who don,t have much teeth when no laws are being broken and no habitat lost. As for the seal hunt that Hoov mentioned, the agencies that shut it down have lost a powerful PR vehicle and a huge cash generator for themselves. There is a saying here that may be appropriate: They will wish their cake dough.