Lone Holdout Aims To Sto Gold Mine

This story should resonate in certain parts of America. Osisko Mining is building a huge mine in Malartic, Quebec. 204 out of 205 homeowners have cut a deal with Osisko to either sell or move from the district that the mine's top is going to be located. Ken Masse is the 205th.

He is literally sitting on a gold mine. And he's determined to stop a multibillion-dollar project aimed at exploiting one of the biggest gold reserves in Canada. In his battle against a mining company, Masse is clearly the underdog. He doesn't have a lawyer, draws a momentary blank when asked for his age, and is constantly accompanied by a fast-talking, self-described billionaire adviser. But the man with a jungle of reddish beard said he's convinced he will succeed in his struggle to keep a mining company from digging under his Quebec town.

Masse's childhood abode in Malartic is all that stands in the way of production on what may be Canada's largest untapped gold deposit. For a year his house has been just about the only thing standing on the lunar landscape of what used to be the oldest district in town....

Masse says his decision to hold out is based on principle -- environmental concerns and the good of Malartic -- not on the desire for a bigger buyout....

Osisko is resorting to government-authorized expropriation, which Masse plans to fight.