https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Wabun Tribal Council provides industry with templated consultation solution to ‘build more mines faster’
Mining companies are being called on to do more. “Do the right thing because you want to, not because you have to,” said Nicole Charbonneau, a mining development advisor from the Wabun Tribal Council.
She presented the Wabun model of working with mining companies and First Nations at the opening day of the Canada Mining Expo in Timmins, June 7.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Minodahmun Development and Three Fires Group shoulder their way into the BEV supply chain
Two Indigenous economic developments groups – one in northwestern Ontario and one in southwestern Ontario – are teaming up to break into the battery electric and lithium supply chain in a big way.
Greenstone-based Minodahmun Development LP it is teaming up with the Three Fires Group of Kettle Point to form a “Mines to Battery” partnership that involves advancing the concept of a lithium refinery. The two entities posted a joint news release on the partnership, June 6.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Frontier Lithium’s PAK Project has a 24 years of mining life, but it needs government to fund the path forward
Tucked up in a remote corner of northwestern Ontario, Frontier Lithium and president-CEO Trevor Walker are sitting on one of the largest, highest grade and mine-ready lithium projects in North America.
The Sudbury-based exploration company has two massive spodumene-bearing lithium deposits about 175 kilometres north of Red Lake, near the Manitoba border. And there’s tons of potential to develop it into a district scale-sized operation.
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/
Six months after the Canadian government rejected a plan to double approved output from the Mary River iron mine on Nunavut’s Baffin Island, the mine’s operator, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., is working to get the green light to move ahead with a different proposal.
The new plan, which the company calls a “Sustaining Operations Proposal,” surfaced in December, about a month after federal Northern Affairs Minister Daniel Vandal rejected the earlier plan Nov. 16 to expand operations and double approved shipping output from the mine to 12 million metric tons of iron ore annually.
The U.S. District Court in Arizona granted mining giant Resolution Copper permission on Monday to join the U.S. government as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by grassroots group Apache Stronghold.
The Native organization has been fighting to prevent Resolution from building a huge copper mining operation that would obliterate Oak Flat, one of the Apaches peoples’ most sacred sites. Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, “the place where the Emory oak grows,” is also culturally important to other Southwestern tribes, and is one of Arizona’s remaining riparian zones and a popular site for recreational users.
Mushkegowuk leadership challenges Minister of Mines to scrap Bill 71 and work with the communities to find a better way
First Nations leadership is calling on Minister George Pirie to be a true partner. Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Alison Linklater challenged the Timmins MPP and Minister of Mines during the Mushkegowuk Annual General Assembly to scrap Bill 71 and work with the communities to find a better way forward.
“I have a challenge for you. Withdraw your bill and work with us,” said Linklater. “Create a true partnership based on our treaty.” The minister faced questions from community members and leadership at the event in Cochrane on Tuesday with a focus on Bill 71, which was recently approved and saw changes made to the Mining Act.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s ready to jump on the bulldozer and build the access road to the Ring of Fire, an area rich with critical mineral deposits in the province’s far north. In the next breath though, he says, “Well, we don’t like conflict. We want to work with (the Matawa Nations), hand-in-hand, and be collaborative.”
Ford’s words came during a visit to Brampton, which will be home to a new electric vehicle battery facility. The metals for the EV factory are found in the Ring of Fire, which is within Treaty 9 territory.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Fort Albany rises questions, concerns about downstream impacts of Far North road building and mining activity
The Northern Road Link, the middle stretch of the proposed Ring of Fire road network, will undergo a federal environmental assessment, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IACC) announced last week.
The determination by IAAC that an assessment is required was based on the possibility that the road could cause negative impacts to fish, birds and the socio-economic well-being of the Indigenous people in the area. Feedback on the project came forth from the public, Indigenous groups, various federal agencies and others, IACC said.
Mining is big business in B.C. and it’s an industry that produces a lot of waste. A new report highlights 11 mines of concern and what’s stopping the province from getting them to clean up their acts
Chief Francis Laceese of Tl’esqox describes the Gibraltar mine as a “disaster waiting to happen.” Located about 60 kilometres north of Williams Lake, B.C., it’s the fourth-largest open-pit mine in North America. Laceese’s Tsilqot’in community, Tl’esqox, is directly downstream.
The Gibraltar copper mine is among B.C.’s most polluting and high risk mines, according to a report released today by SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and BC Mining Law Reform Network. Eleven mines are listed based on their proven or probable impacts to the environment, unsafe management of tailings waste, non-compliance with environmental permits and violations of Indigenous Rights.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
New Ring of Fire Metals boss brings an Indigenous perspective and project smarts to advance Far North mine
Dialogue and transparency. Those words have served Kristan Straub well over his 22-year career with Glencore and the postings that have sent him across Canada and around the globe.
Earlier this year, the Sudbury-born Straub, the now-former vice-president of exploration with Glencore’s nickel team, was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance one of the world’s new and untapped sources of critical minerals.
Active closure is expected to be done this summer, though the site will be monitored until at least 2039
Before the Victor Mine even had permits to operate, De Beers was working on its closure plan. Today, Ontario’s first diamond mine — located in a remote area of the James Bay lowlands west of Attawapiskat First Nation — fewer than 100 people remain on-site.
That’s far less than the 500 employees and contractors who were there during the height of the mine’s operations, said De Beers head of corporate affairs Erik Madsen. Madsen was the guest speaker at the Timmins Chamber of Commerce’s State of Mining event today (May 24). He talked about the mine’s operations, the work left to be done on-site and the future of De Beers in the James Bay area.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Andrew Forrest, the Australian billionaire owner of the most promising mining assets in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region, says the viability of the critical minerals project is at risk because of Canada’s regulatory burden, its cumbersome consultation process and persistent delays in building crucial infrastructure.
The Ring of Fire, in the province’s far north, is a key part of Ontario’s and Canada’s plans to become a player in metals for electric-vehicle batteries, but it has sat undeveloped for the better part of two decades owing to unproven economics, tension with Indigenous communities, a lack of political consensus and the gigantic capital cost requirements.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
New partnerships bridge the gap between industry and community
Canada’s mining sector has an extensive history, with minerals playing a vital role in day-to-day life going back thousands of years. Since then, much has changed and the industry has experienced innumerable advancements, including in technology, safety, and sustainability. More recently, one of the most significant developments has been the official recognition of the traditional lands of Indigenous communities that many Canadian mines are located on.
The recognition and accompanying legislation give communities better representation and more leverage in the mining process. That is why Indigenous community partnerships are becoming even more important and the relationship between industry and Indigenous communities is transforming. It helps pave the way towards economic reconciliation.
https://www.politicstoday.news/
Amid growing objections from First Nations, Premier Doug Ford remains dead set on developing the Ring of Fire to fuel Ontario’s goal of becoming a major player in the EV industry. But three mining industry experts Queen’s Park Today spoke to said Ontario can become a major global EV hub without the Ring of Fire.
However, they said giving up on the project would be a drastic measure that could significantly set that goal back for a long time and would also have geopolitical implications. Geologist and mining consultant Jim Franklin helped Spider Resources — the company that discovered mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire while searching for diamonds — understand what they had found.
Dr. Warren Bernauer will be touring three locations in northwestern Ontario to promote his new book I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance.
WINNIPEG – For those living in Dryden, Ignace and Thunder Bay, Dr. Warren Bernauer will be touring Northwestern Ontario to speak about a book he co-authored with Joan Scottie and Jack Hicks, called I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance.
Bernauer, who currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Environment and Geography and the Natural Resources Institute, still calls Northwestern Ontario his home.
