I’m respectfully writing to express my strongest possible opposition to the proposed Ajax mine development on the doorstep of our beautiful city.

I’m an IT professional who has the good fortune to be able to work from home in downtown Kamloops by using high-speed Internet technology. I may not have a big office building here in town, but I certainly pay my municipal and property taxes, and my salary goes towards Kamloops businesses and services.

I believe that I represent a growing demographic of IT small office/home office professionals that is the type of business community Kamloops should be trying to attract, as opposed to a non-renewable, potentially toxic and definitely ‘ugly’ black eye that this mine will be to our landscape. I was born in Kamloops but moved away to Vancouver after high school. Four years ago I moved back to Kamloops with my wife and two young sons as this seemed the ideal place to raise our family. Certainly if the mine had been in place when my family was looking at relocating to Kamloops, it would have been a very large negative point that could have kept us away.

We have an active lifestyle and enjoy the natural beauty of the region. I've hiked and ridden up in the hills above Aberdeen and my boys and I love it up there. It's absolutely beautiful land, but from personal experience I can tell you the winds can blow hard enough to knock you back at times.

Despite any assurance of ‘dust control technologies’ I have zero confidence that this mine will be able to stop the creation of potentially toxic dust on a windy plateau within a few kilometers of houses, schools, parks and our hospital. The location of this mine makes no sense and is plain frightening to me.

Please, let's stop this potential tragedy before it's too late. The fate and health of a community is in our hands. Please do the right thing and stop the Ajax mine development.

PHIL MARSHALL

Kamloops