Exploratory drilling began last week in the environmentally sensitive Clayoquot Sound region of British Columbia, with the blessing of the provincial mines ministry and the local aboriginal band.

But area environmentalists are preparing for a fight to fend off mining in what was once Ground Zero for the province's environmental movement.

"We don't expect that the ministry will rescind their permit, but they're definitely on notice," said Maryjka Mychajlowycz, spokeswoman for Friends of Clayoquot Sound.

The Tofino Chamber of Commerce and the Tofino District Council both opposed the proposed copper mining operation on Catface Mountain during lively public meetings last spring.

The Ahousaht band, however, signed a memorandum of understanding approving the drilling with Selkirk Metals Corp. Catface Mountain is in territory the band claims as theirs.

Graham Keevil, a spokesman for the mining company, said last week they will be looking for copper and possibly molybdenum.

But he said the drilling is "quite low impact."

Once it's completed, the company will make a decision about what to do next. A decision to mine the mountain is a long way off, Keevil said.

Keevil said the company has had a blessing ceremony with Ahousaht officials.

Keith Atleo, a spokesman for the Ahousaht, declined comment.

A mine on Catface - which is within a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization Biosphere Reserve - would be visible from the resort town of Tofino, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Concerned townspeople were assured by Tofino council in June that no permit would be approved anytime soon. But the permit was issued at the beginning of July and drilling began Tuesday evening.

The process may have been expedited because it didn't go through the Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board, a point which further angered environmentalists.

Mike Kokura, a Port Alberni member of the board, confirmed he never took part in any discussion on the proposed mine.

But Kokura said the board actually didn't exist for several weeks this spring after board members' terms expired.

"Lately the board has not been functioning because there has been no board," Kokura said.

But he also said that even if the board had reviewed the application from Selkirk, it has no power to deny or approve permits. Its function is to provide advice to government.

"It's to prevent that kind of a blow-up again," said Kokura.

The board was formed after mass protests in 1993 against logging in the picturesque Clayoquot Sound.

About 800 environmentalists were arrested during that summer of protests, considered a galvanizing moment in the environmental movement in B.C. and around the world.

The board was formed as a liaison between interest groups, First Nations and government.

The lack of an opportunity for the board to participate is bothersome, though, Mychajlowycz said.

"There has been a special process established for Clayoquot Sound and they need to follow that," she said.

Mychajlowycz said the environmentalists have no immediate plans for any blockades but she said her group is "extremely worried."

"Once you embark on this kind of a drilling program you're basically escalating every year," Mychajlowycz said.

The drilling is exploratory, but if results show a lucrative opportunity for copper mining, the results could be devastating, she said.