Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas – Page 161

Baffinland wins approval for scaled-down Nunavut iron mine (CBC News North – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

Baffinland Iron Mines has won the go-ahead to proceed with a considerably scaled down version of its proposed iron mine on North Baffin Island.

In December of 2012, Baffinland was approved to move 18 million tonnes of iron ore each year, shipping it first by rail to the west coast of Baffin Island, then by ships that would travel year round through the ice-choked waters of Foxe Basin to markets in Europe.

Just weeks after winning approval for the plan, Baffinland changed it, proposing a phased approach that would move about 3.5 million tonnes of ore per year using an existing road and port on the eastern side of Baffin Island, and citing the poor economy as a reason for doing so.

To accommodate the change of the plans, the Nunavut Impact Review Board modified 44 of its initial 182 terms and conditions for the mine and added eight new ones.

In a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board today, Bernard Valcourt, minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, accepted most of those changes, modifying nine and rejecting one.

Ring of Fire – Good timing, good politics (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 2014

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

THE timing of Monday’s provincial offer of $1 billion to access the Ring of Fire just three days before the budget is entirely political, of course.

It could have come months ago. Instead it is designed for maximum leverage against opposition parties who will be accused by the Liberals of blocking Northern economic development if they vote against Thursday’s budget.

The Liberals will say they’ve been trying to get Ottawa to agree to partner in building an essential transportation corridor into the mineral-rich region around James Bay.

It took regional cabinet ministers Michael Gravelle for Ontario and Ottawa’s Greg Rickford months to agree to a meeting and not much came out of it except to agree to the obvious — that this is a remarkable economic opportunity that must not be passed up.

Here, too, Ontario’s political initiative Monday is timely, coinciding with the resumption of Parliament where the governing Conservatives remain intent on jobs and prosperity that are in relatively short supply in Northern Ontario. The message is clear: if you’re serious, match our offer.

Focus: Disclosure of mining payments a hot topic – by Charlotte Santry (Law Times – April 28, 2014)

April 28, 2014

http://www.lawtimesnews.com/index.php

Move to boost transparency could have negative consequences

Forcing energy companies to disclose payments to aboriginal communities could make treaty negotiations smoother and more transparent, lawyers believe. But some warn it could also encourage the federal government to slash funding for infrastructure and social services in those communities.

Former natural resources minister Joe Oliver told mining executives last month the federal government was upholding its commitment to ensure mining companies disclose payments made to governments at home and abroad.

The plans would cover payments of more than $100,000 made by oil, gas, and mining companies to all levels of government, including aboriginal communities. This would affect payments made by resource companies via legally binding impact benefit agreements. The agreements set out how a community will benefit from land used in operations such as mines.

Julie Abouchar, a partner at Toronto law firm Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP, says the proposals could benefit negotiations on impact benefit agreements. “A good process involves regular reporting to communities about the progress of negotiation and that the agreement be made available to community members to read before any agreement is ratified,” she says.

Neskantaga First Nation News Release: Fourth World Living Conditions in the Ring of Fire: Call to Action

April 28, 2014

“I have to do something because my people live in poverty, my people are killing themselves,
my people don’t have clean drinking water…I want to make a change for the betterment of the community
and the people and the generations to come.” – Chief Peter Moonias

Neskantaga First Nation is an isolated fly-in Oji-Cree First Nation community located in northern Ontario along Attawapiskat Lake in the Ring of Fire. The community itself covers approximately 831 hectares of vast northern Ontario landscape and has an estimated population of 420 residents, 60 percent of whom are youth. In this small community, there were seven youth suicides (7) and twenty seven suicide attempts (27) over a twelve-month period, which forced Chief Peter Moonias to declare a state of emergency in the spring of 2013.

Since that time, the community has been calling on all levels of government, health providers, the justice community, social service agencies, and families to collectively support Neskantaga during their time of crisis. While a number of initiatives were started to assist the community in dealing with their grief, suicides of young people continue. Regrettably, since the summer of 2013, three (3) more youth have taken their lives, with the most recent suicide of a 16-year-old girl on April 2, 2014.

These suicides are directly linked to the deplorable living conditions in the community. For example, the residents of Neskantaga have had no clean drinking water since 1995, lack access to fresh and affordable food, and inhabit homes that are dangerously overcrowded and infested with black mould.

Northerners want training for careers in mining, energy – by Canadian Press (MACLEAN’s Magazine – April 24, 2014)

April 25, 2014

http://www.macleans.ca/

Polar Commission calls ‘job-readiness’ most significant development issue

Northerners want scientists to help them prepare for sweeping changes expected in the years ahead from resource development and climate change, suggests feedback collected from across the Canadian Arctic.

In dozens of interviews from all three territories, the Canadian Polar Commission found northerners want researchers to focus more on issues relevant to their daily lives — from better education to get aboriginals into high-paying jobs to ways that communities can wean themselves off expensive diesel electricity generation.

“Northerners themselves are becoming more engaged in asking the questions and in working to help answer the questions,” said commission director David Scott. The survey grew out of 2007′s International Polar Year, a multinational research effort that channelled hundreds of millions of dollars into research across the circumpolar world. It attempts to assess what was learned as well as to consider what still requires study — especially from the point of view of those who live in the Arctic.

Rio Tinto’s stance on Kakadu cleanup alarms Indigenous owners – by James Norman (The Guardian – April 24, 2014)

April 24, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Giant says rehabilitation of uranium mine – site of a radioactive spill last year – is a matter for its Australian subsidiary

It’s a long way from central London to Kakadu national park in Australia’s Northern Territory. When Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Sam Walsh, addressed shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting last week, there was a strong sense of the distance.

Walsh refused to offer any guarantees that the mining giant would help its Australian subsidiary company Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) clean up the site of its Ranger uranium mine within the park.

“This is a public Australian company and clearly that is an issue for them,” Walsh said. When pressed on the point he added: “We are clearly shareholders, but it is a matter for all shareholders and a matter for the ERA board.” The Ranger mine was in the news in December last year when a leach tank containing 1.4m litres of acidic radioactive slurry leaked.

Walsh’s words were alarming for Mirarr traditional owners who live in the park and are no strangers to negotiating with mining companies. They are anxious about ERA’s commitment to the rehabilitation of the site.

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: Ontario and Matawa Member First Nations Celebrate Historic Framework for Negotiations on the Ring of Fire

April 24, 2014

Premier Joins First Nations Chiefs to Formalize Regional Framework

April 24, 2014 1:00 p.m. Office of the Premier

Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Matawa member First Nations Chiefs were in Thunder Bay today, where they joined Matawa community members, to officially celebrate the recent signing of a landmark regional framework agreement to develop the Ring of Fire.

The Regional Framework Agreement is a first step in the historic, community-based negotiation process that will bring together the nine First Nations and the Province of Ontario to discuss and negotiate an approach for development in the First Nations’ traditional territories. The process will help ensure that First Nations participate in, and benefit from, Ring of Fire developments.

The agreement ensures that First Nations and Ontario can work together on resource development opportunities. That includes: long-term, regional environmental monitoring; enhanced participation in environmental assessment processes; resource revenue sharing; social and economic supports; and regional and community infrastructure.

In attendance at the ceremony were Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation, Chief Fred Sackaney of Constance Lake First Nation, Chief Elizabeth Atlookan of Eabametoong First Nation, Chief Celia Echum of Ginoogaming First Nation, Chief Allen Towegishig of Long Lake #58 First Nation, Chief Elijah K. Moonias of Marten Falls First Nation, Chief Peter Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation, Chief Johnny Yellowhead of Nibinamik First Nation and Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation.

Northern Superior Resources Junior miner still not buying Ontario’s argument – by Staff (April 22, 2014)

April 22, 2014

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

A Sudbury-based junior gold miner that’s suing the Ontario government for $110 million still maintains the province fell short of its legal duty to consult with a First Nation that “evicted” the company from a remote area of northwestern Ontario following a series of disputes in 2011.

Northern Superior Resources responded to a recently amended State of Defence from the province by contending that the government’s version of consultation consisted of a “standard form letter” sent to them that identified Sachigo Lake as one of the First Nation communities that they should contact to advise them of their exploration work.

The company maintains that the province didn’t undertake any formal consultation with Sachigo, nor were they of any assistance or even got involved, until after the company was “evicted” by Sachigo and other area First Nation communities.

Last fall, Northern Superior Resources sued the government for failing to consult with the Sachigo after multiple disagreements with the band caused the company to abandon exploration on its mining claims near Thorne Lake in late 2011. The company said the band made unreasonable demands – including monetary – that forced them to stop work and withdraw.

Ottawa to force energy companies to report payments made to native bands – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – April 21, 2014)

April 22, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

OTTAWA — The federal government is proposing measures that would require mining and oil companies to report all payments made to native band councils and their corporations as part of Ottawa’s push for greater transparency among aboriginal governments.

Officials from Natural Resources Canada are consulting with industry, non-governmental organizations and aboriginal communities over plans to require mandatory reporting of all payments made by resource companies to foreign and domestic governments. Unlike similar regulations in the United States and Europe, the federal rules would include aboriginal governments and their corporations.

The demand for mandatory resource-revenue reporting comes amid a concerted effort by the Conservative government to increase financial disclosure from aboriginal communities to combat concerns over mismanagement and corruption. In a high-profile case last week, the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service charged the former co-manager of the remote Attawapiskat Reserve in Northern Ontario – who is also the common-law spouse of chief Theresa Spence – with two counts of fraud and theft after the band council conducted its own investigation.

Muskowekwan First Nation votes to approve on-reserve potash project – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 16, 2014)

April 17, 2014

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Project developer Encanto Potash on Wednesday reported that the Muskowekwan First Nation (MFN) had voted with a strong majority in favour of continuing to develop the first producing potash mine on First Nation land – the MFN’s reserve, located 100 km north-east of Regina, Saskatchewan.

The two project partners said that six ballots for the MFN surface designation vote had passed, including those allowing Encanto to build and operate a potash solution mine on both reserve land and pre-reserve land and to lease certain areas in support of the mine.

The project is being undertaken by First Potash Ventures, a partnership between Encanto Potash and Muskowekwan Resources, which is owned by the MFN. The project is expected to provide economic opportunities for the MFN, as well as the surrounding area, by providing training and employment opportunities during the construction and operation of the mine.

“Once again, my people have demonstrated that we are interested and greatly in favour of seeing an operating potash solution mine on our land and enjoying the associated benefits through educational advancements, increased employment opportunities and self-sourced revenue generation,” MFN chief Reginald Bellerose said.

Bands go to bat for Ring of Fire road – by Staff (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 15, 2014)

April 15, 2014

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Two First Nations that stand to benefit economically from the development of the Ring of Fire mining belt have “reaffirmed” their commitment to support a north-south road into the mineral-rich region.

“The development of the Ring of Fire requires infrastructure, and the first priority is to build a road that will allow people and goods to move,” Marten Falls and Aroland said Monday in a joint news release.

The two bands also expressed a willingness to “work with mining companies, governments and other partners” to ensure First Nations benefit form any development.

Potential chromite and nickel mines are located in the Ring of Fire about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Chromite is an ingredient in stainless steel.

A 340-km north-south road into the Ring of Fire proposed by Cliffs Natural Resources was kiboshed last fall when Ontario’s Mining and Lands Commission ruled it would infringe on mining claims held by other companies.

First Nations proposes Northern Gateway pipeline alternative following plebiscite setback – by Yadullah Hussain and Jeff Lewis (National Post – April 15, 2014)

April 15, 2014

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO/CALGARY — As Enbridge Inc. reels from the rejection by residents of Kitimat, B.C. of the Northern Gateway pipeline, a First Nations-led consortium is seeking to build an alternative project that would link Alberta’s oil sands to the British Columbia coast.

Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings Ltd. and Vancouver-based Aquilini Group say they have signed non-disclosure agreements with a “substantial number” of First Nation groups in northern B.C., including some “staunchly opposed” to the Enbridge project.

The one-million barrel-per-day pipeline has a tentative 2020 start date once it secures a “social licence” from First Nations to operate, the group said at a media conference in Vancouver on Monday.

“The only licence that matters to do this [project] in British Columbia is the social licence from the First Nations community,” said Calvin Helin, chairman and president of Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings, noting that he spent a year and a half listening carefully to the feedback from and concerns of First Nations. The group will file an application with the National Energy Board only after it has addressed all First Nations’ concerns and issues.

First Nations’ Remarkable Legal Winning Streak – by Shiri Pasternak (The Tyee.ca – April 10, 2014)

April 14, 2014

http://thetyee.ca/

‘Resource Rulers’ says industry ignores at its peril wave of ‘native empowerment.’

When news media pay attention to books about Indigenous people in Canada, they tend to select those that stick to a particular script. Flanagan, Alacantra and Le Dressay’s Beyond the Indian Act, Widdowson and Howard’s Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry, and Calvin Helin’s Dances with Dependencyall received extensive coverage by the national press upon release.

These books, while different in content, share in common the characterization of Indigenous economies as dependent systems. The solution to achieving self-determination is always conflated with free market access. And while these authors are careful to situate the poverty in First Nations communities within a historical context of land dispossession and legislative discrimination, they are equally careful to avoid analyzing inequalities in systems of free market capitalism.

Now it is Bill Gallagher’s self-published book Resource Rulers that is getting all the attention. It is an engaging read that argues the legal winning streak of First Nations in resource conflicts (he counts over 150) should put industry on notice to comply with their expanding obligations to Indigenous peoples. Each chapter in the book surveys a different region or province, highlighting what Gallagher perceives to be the key legal victories of “native empowerment.”

Striking a tone of caution to industry regarding native rights, is Resource Rulers thematically apiece with the usual populism described above?

Vancouver Island First Nation declares ‘tribal park’ to protect land – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – April 13, 2014)

April 14, 2014

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Latest park meant to thwart potential Imperial Metals mining project near Tofino

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on Vancouver Island has used a unilateral tribal park declaration to try to control development on their traditional territories. The Tranquil Valley tribal park in Clayoquot Sound — where Imperial Metals is investigating the possibility of a mine — is the third tribal park the First Nation has declared.

The Tla-o-qui-aht has declared this territory, about 20 kilometres northeast of Tofino, off limits to mining activity after the province issued a gold exploration permit to the Vancouver-based company last summer.

While tribal parks have not been recognized by the province, Parks Canada worked with the Tla-o-qui-aht on a “tribal parks establishment project” in one of its declared parks in 2009.

The tribal parks are meant to create a management system to protect the land, but also create sustainable jobs. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has done that, for example, with hatchery programs to improve fisheries, bear watching and run-of-the-river hydro projects.

On the road to reconciliation, tension between miners and Aboriginals grow – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 11, 2014)

April 14, 2014

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – While Canada has come a long way in reconciling pre-existing Aboriginal sovereignty with assumed Crown sovereignty, tension is rising between the proponents of several new mining projects located on Crown lands, or within Aboriginal reserves, and Aboriginals, who increasingly assert their rights.

In recent weeks, several Aboriginal communities have voiced their concerns regarding proposed mining projects, insisting on their right to self-determination.

For example, this week the West Moberly First Nations were in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, in Nanaimo, where they argued their case against a proposed coal project in an area 34 km north of Chetwynd, in north-east British Columbia, which had been deemed of “critical spiritual and cultural importance” by the community.

Last summer, the Energy and Mines Ministry issued mining permits to Canadian Kailuan Dehua Mines – a Chinese-backed mining company – for its Gething project, authorising the company to remove 100 000 t of material, transport 15 000 t of coal and construct the main components of a mine that would operate for about 30 years.