Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas – Page 169

Discovery casts doubt on Klondike gold claim – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – December 22, 2013)

December 23, 2013

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.

VANCOUVER — When George Carmack, an American prospector, died in Vancouver in 1922, he was known as the man who discovered the first nugget that started the Klondike gold rush. But did he really?

New research by a U.S. writer indicates Mr. Carmack unfairly took credit in an attempt to steal the prestige away from a Canadian and to help erase links to the native family he abandoned after striking it rich.

The question of who actually discovered gold at Bonanza Creek in 1896 has long been in dispute, with some giving at least a bit of the credit to the two Yukon aboriginal men, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie, who were with Mr. Carmack that day.

They both filed single claims on Bonanza Creek – but Mr. Carmack got two. “Carmack took credit for the find, staking the discovery claim – the first claim on the creek – which entitled him to a second claim,” states the Yukon government’s archives website.

First Nations Entrepreneurship: It’s No Business, As Usual – by Sunny Freeman (Huffington Post – December 20, 2013)

December 20, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

WEBEQUIE, Ont. — Eric Jacob sprinted to his pickup truck following an abrupt late night call. A seldom-seen shipment of large appliances had been strewn across an icy lake after a truck toppled on the winter road to his isolated reserve in Ontario’s Far North.

Determined to salvage the valuable inventory of the reserve’s only store, grocery manager Eric rounded up some buddies to make the four-hour round trip to fetch the damaged ovens and refrigerators and deliver them to the 840-person community.

“We did that all night,” he says. Fortunate to have any job on the poverty-stricken Webequie reserve, Eric is in an enviable position, one with security and benefits. And he takes it seriously.

Starting as a stock boy nearly 20 years ago, the 38-year-old climbed the ladder to become grocery manager at the Northern, the lone retailer on the reserve, which sells everything from milk to dining tables, at about three times what they would cost in Thunder Bay, a two-hour plane ride south.

Ottawa must reject Prosperity Mine proposal – by Joe Alphonse (Victoria Times Colonist – December 17, 2013)

December 17, 2013

http://www.timescolonist.com/

Chief Joe Alphonse is tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in Nation.

In 2010, Bill Bennett was B.C.’s mines minister and was ignoring all information regarding Taseko Mines Ltd.’s Prosperity Mine proposal for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) — except for the claims made by the company itself.

The area that TML wanted to turn into one of the world’s biggest open-pit, low-grade gold and copper mines was featured in B.C.’s own tourism pamphlets, yet Bennett dismissed it as a “muddy little pothole of a lake.”

He and the company kept insisting the mine would be approved by Ottawa, and TML’s investors sent the company’s share price soaring to over $7 based on these assurances.

Even the pro-mining federal government of the day found the federal panel report so “scathing” in terms of environmental impacts and infringements on aboriginal rights that it had no choice but to reject it.

BC announces coal rights deferral deal in Sacred Headwaters area – by Dirk Meissner (Vancouver Sun – December 16, 2013)

December 17, 2013

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

VICTORIA – A remote area of northwest British Columbia considered sacred by aboriginals and resource rich by mining companies has received a reprieve from potential coal-mining activities with a government order that puts new coal tenures on hold for one year.

The Tahltan Nation call the area Klappan, and it has been the site of protests by aboriginal elders who say mining will threaten the spiritual, cultural and wilderness values of the region, which includes the confluence of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers.

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said Monday the Klappan Coal Licence Deferral Area Order is a temporary measure that will allow the government, the Tahltan and the mining industry time to negotiate a management agreement for the area.

The deferral order impacts 62 coal licence applications, but existing area coal tenures and authorizations, including the Fortune Minerals’ Arctos project, are not impacted, he said.

Fortune Minerals, of London, Ont., announced last fall that it was pausing exploratory work for an open-pit coal mine in the Klappan, following an earlier decision by Shell Canada to give up its rights to explore and drill for coal-bed methane gas.

Mining industry warns of skilled worker shortage – by James Keller (MacLean’s Magazine – December 16, 2013)

December 16, 2013

http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/

Mines recruiting Aboriginals, temporary foreign workers

VANCOUVER – The Canadian Press – Glen Paul still remembers his first week on the job at a copper-gold mine in British Columbia’s Interior — a position, he says, he landed three years ago as a “fluke” after taking a course to operate heavy machinery.

Paul says he didn’t start his training with a specific plan to end up in the mining industry, but there he was at the New Afton project near Kamloops, which at the time was still two years away from full production.

By his second day, he was standing underground for an orientation of the mine site.

“It was slightly overwhelming, because I’ve never been to a mine before, I’ve never seen one,” says Paul, 24, who grew up on the Kamloops Indian Band reserve and was connected to the job through the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association.

“When I was younger, I really liked geology. … I’ve always been interested in machines, and after I got to see everything underground and to see some of the machines I had a possibility of working on, I was hooked.”

NEWS RELEASE: Noront Santa gets set for special deliveries

November 3, 2015December 16, 2013

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

To donate to the Noront Ring of Fire Christmas fund, visit https://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?charityID=s101217

Click “Donate Now” and then use the “Fund/Designation” drop down menu to pick “5. Noront Ring of Fire Christmas Fund”

or you can contact Kaitlyn Ferris at Noront Resouces (416 367 1444 ext 130) kaitlyn.ferris@norontresources.com

Thanks to the employees of Ontario Mining Association member company Noront Resources and its employees Fifth Annual Ring of Fire Christmas Fund, Santa will make a special early visit to some communities in the region. Over the past four years, Noront has raised more than$75,000 in donations to ensure that every child under 13 in Webequie and Marten Falls receives a wrapped Christmas gift.

This year, Noront has purchased and wrapped more than 350 Christmas gifts, which will be delivered to children living on and off reserve. If the weather cooperates, Santa and a team of Noront elves will be delivering gifts and festive pizzas in Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations on December 17 and 18, 2013. Along with these visits, the Christmas Fund takes Santa to Thunder Bay for celebration s and gift giving to people from the Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations living off reserve in that larger community.

The dispute the entire oil industry is watching – by Kelly Cryderman (Globe and Mail – December 14, 2013)

December 16, 2013

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.

FORT McKAY FIRST NATION, ALTA. — ‘Beverly Hills” is the pride of Fort McKay.

A building boom is under way on this street of stylish new houses, nicknamed after one of America’s wealthiest cities. It’s a required stop for every visitor to this First Nation reserve smack-dab in the middle of Alberta’s oil sands region.

Cobblestone driveways, stainless steel appliances and spacious decks are standard features of the roomy homes. One street over, painting crews are finishing the interiors of another set of new houses as heavy-duty vehicles pack dirt at the next building site. The goal is to get Fort McKay First Nation residents out of the hamlet’s old trailers and houses and into 100 new homes in the next four years.

“People come to McKay, and they say it doesn’t even look like a reserve,” boasts Fort McKay Councillor Gerald Gladue.

First Nation seeks equal face-time to lobby feds on New Prosperity – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – December 13, 2013)

December 13, 2013

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

With B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett in Ottawa lobbying in favour of Taseko Mines Ltd.’s New Prosperity mine proposal in the province’s Interior, the First Nation affected by the project is seeking equal time with federal ministers to make their case as to why the mine shouldn’t be built.

And the Tsihlqot’in National Government warned federal decision makers that it will oppose any decision approving the project in court, which could leave the Crown on the hook for millions of dollars in compensation to Taseko if an approval is rejected.

Chief Joe Alphonse, Tribal Chair for the Tsihlqot’in National Government, said “it is a disgrace” for Bennett to be lobbying for the mine project despite two versions of Taseko’s proposal both receiving federal environmental assessment reviews that concluded the project would pose significant, irreversible risks to the environment.

Bennett went to Ottawa for meetings with four federal ministers and a dozen B.C. MPs to express his confidence in Taseko’s ability to build the mine without serious damage to the environment and deliver the message that the project is important for the economic development of the Cariboo region.

Canada heading for energy ‘gridlock,’ group warns – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – December 13, 2013)

December 13, 2013

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 — Canada is heading for a gridlock in energy development that will rob the country of future wealth unless it can solve vexing environmental and aboriginal conflicts, a blue-ribbon group including senior Calgary business people warns in a new report.

Concerned about growing conflict over resource development, 21 high-profile leaders from business, environmental organizations and First Nations met over the course of a year and concluded there is an urgent need for detente in the country’s heated debate over resource development.

And they urged that new approaches be found that would offer greater benefits for aboriginal communities and assure Canadians that industry is addressing key environmental concerns.

Bitter differences are “leading us towards energy resource development gridlock,” the group said in a paper that was distributed to industry and government officials and other national leaders on Thursday.

Grits would offer guarantees to jumpstart Ring: Trudeau – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 13, 2013)

December 13, 2013

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A Liberal federal government would play a key role in helping Ontario develop the Ring of Fire by providing matching funds or loan guarantees similar to those offered in the Upper Churchill to develop infrastructure, says Justin Trudeau.

The Ring of Fire is a tremendous resource not just for Northern Ontario, but for the entire country, said the Liberal Party leader during a visit Thursday to Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre.

“The federal government needs to be part of the infrastructure projects that are going to unlock this great potential,” Trudeau told reporters after a tour of the aboriginal health centre where a chorus of three-year-olds sang to him in Ojibwe.

When asked what he thought about the battle of words between Ottawa and Ontario over who should do what to develop the chromite deposits, Trudeau said too much of politics is focused on finger-pointing. ”People need to sit down together and try to figure out the way to move forward that will be of benefit economically but also for communities, for our first peoples and for the long-term sustainability of our environment as well.”

B.C. First Nations eye LNG equity stakes – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – December 12, 2013)

December 12, 2013

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.

GATINEAU, QUE. — First Nations leaders in British Columbia are seeking multibillion-dollar loan guarantees from the federal government to enable them to take ownership stakes in various liquefied natural gas projects being planned in the province, and have also travelled to China and Japan looking for backers.

The bid to raise financing comes as the Assembly of First Nations launches an effort to forge an aboriginal national energy strategy, which would be based on treaty rights, sustainable development and the need for impoverished communities to benefit from the massive resource development that Canada expects over the next decade.

“What is absolutely clear is that unless First Nations are included as full partners in development, the prospects for projects proceeding are negligible,” said Dave Porter, chief executive of British Columbia First Nations Energy and Mining Council.

He said aboriginal communities will resort to the courts if Ottawa presses ahead over their objections with pipeline projects such as Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway.

B.C. mines minister to lobby for New Prosperity project – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – December 10, 2013)

December 11, 2013

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

Environmental review found long list of concerns, but Bill Bennett says B.C. economy needs the mine

Mines Minister Bill Bennett is heading to Ottawa to support the contentious New Prosperity mine proposal in the Cariboo, the minister said Tuesday.

Bennett, speaking to project boosters brought together by the B.C. Chamber of Commerce in Vancouver, said he will go to the national capital Thursday to tell his federal counterparts that the province considers the $1.5-billion New Prosperity mine an important piece in its economic plan.

“I’m going to seek to influence the decision, of course,” Bennett said to reporters. “I want them to say yes because they can say yes. I want to make sure they have all the information to do that.”

A decision on whether the open-pit copper-gold mine goes ahead rests with federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq. She is studying a second review by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which concluded the mine would have significant environmental impacts. Taseko Mines Ltd. is disputing a major element that went into that conclusion.

Native rights a contentious issue as mining bill passes – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – December 9, 2013)

December 10, 2013

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

Bill 70 adpopted with support of the Liberals and CAQ

QUEBEC — The Coalition Avenir Québec and Quebec Liberals backed the Parti Québécois government Monday night, with only Quebec solidaire opposed, to adopt Bill 70, the first major change in the province’s Mining Act in almost a century.

Martine Ouellet, Quebec’s natural resources minister, said the bill struck a balance between the claims of the mining industry, environmentalists, communities affected by mining and native people.

But Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Quebec and Labrador, warned the bill could face a court challenge because it ignores the ancestral rights of Quebec aboriginals. The assembly was summoned Monday for an “extraordinary session” to fast-track adoption of Bill 70.

The issue of aboriginal rights was the major disagreement between Ouellet and the opposition Liberals and Québec solidaire, who opposed her rush to legislate. Ouellet said she has listened and a new chapter in Bill 70 calls for consultations with native communities on mining projects.

Strateco seeks to force deal on disputed uranium mine – by Jordan Fletcher (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2013)

December 10, 2013

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.

The battle over uranium mining in northern Quebec is heating up again. Strateco Resources Inc. petitioned a Quebec court on Dec. 5, seeking to force the province’s environmental minister to allow underground uranium exploration at the company’s Matoush project, located in the Otish mountains 200 kilometres northeast of Mistissini.

Quebec’s Minister of Sustainable Development, the Environment, Wildlife and Parks had denied Strateco’s permit on Nov. 7 after the local Mistissini Cree community refused to consent to uranium development near its hunting grounds and trap lines.

“Many Cree work in the mining industry; we are not anti-development,” said Cree Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come. “But uranium is a special case. The tailings will remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. It is a burden for future generations that we are not prepared to assume.”

Tsimshian village takes leap forward – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – December 8, 2013)

December 9, 2013

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Indian band in northern B.C. brings business profits to social development

LAX KW’ALAAMS, B.C.—Too many times, Garry Reece has seen that giving in to the harping voice that says you’ve hit a dead end can kill just as coldly as a razor-sharp knife. That murmur of defeat was echoing through this northern native community, getting steadily louder, through the late 90s gloom.

Just 50 kilometres from Alaska’s southern border, overlooking waters so pristine that pods of orcas and humpback whales are regular visitors in the misty bay, the Tsimshian village was trapped in a vicious cycle.