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Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

Delay may cause fundamental rethinking [Ring of Fire] – by John R. Hunt (Sudbury Star – June 19, 2013)

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

The mine supply business is an important segment of the Northern Ontario economy. The news that Cliffs Natural Resources has temporarily halted its environmental assessment work in the Ring of Fire will not spread any joy.

Some analysts say Cliffs is just playing a card in a complicated poker game. The environmental assessment work is being done in compliance with both federal and provincial assessment acts. The company may be trying to cut through some of the tangled red tape that government departments inevitably create.

According to its website, Cliffs was hoping to get into production by 2016, which means that an incredible amount of work must be done within a comparatively short time.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli pointed out recently other mining companies are certainly interested in the Ring of Fire region, so if Cliffs does not do something, others will.

Cliffs and the provincial government must come to an agreement with one or more First Nations in the region who may not be very pleased with the prospect of losing some of their traditional hunting grounds.

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Which Way to Ring of Fire? As Cliffs stands down, Noront and KWG propose alternate transport routes – by Stockhouse.com (June 14, 2013)

http://www.stockhouse.com/

Which Way to Ring of Fire? As Cliffs stands down, Noront and KWG propose alternate transport routes

It’s a suspension, not a cancellation. Yet the June 12 announcement from Cliffs Natural Resources dumped cold water all over Ontario’s Ring of Fire. By putting the region’s largest project on hold, the company has also shelved plans for an all-weather road to the south, a vital link some other companies were counting on to develop the McFaulds Lake area about 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. But Noront Resources [V.NOT] quickly responded that its own projects are “still good to go” thanks to a proposed east-west road. Not to be outdone, KWG Resources [V.KWG] pursues the feasibility of north-south rail.

Seemingly a Plan B, Noront’s east-west corridor was actually the company’s first idea. It would link the Eagle’s Nest project to Highway 808, roughly 230 kilometres southwest. But in May 2012, the Ontario government conditionally agreed to help finance the north-south route, part of Cliffs’ $3.3-billion proposal to build the Black Thor mine with road access to a new processing facility near Sudbury. On that basis, Noront used the north-south route in the base case for the September 2012 Eagle’s Nest feasibility study. Noront retained the east-west route as back-up.

Prudently, it now seems. Explaining the suspension of what would have been North America’s first major chromite mine, Cliffs’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys Bill Boor said, “Certain critical elements of the project’s future are not solely within our control and require the active support and participation by other interested parties such as government agencies and impacted first nation communities.”

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Cliffs puts Ring of Fire project on hold – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – June 13, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

Citing a list of holdups with its proposed Ring of Fire chromite project, Cliffs Natural Resources announced on June 12 it has suspended its environmental assessment (EA) for the $3.3 billion mine project.

Bill Boor, Cliffs senior vice president, told Wawatay News that the uncertainty over the federal EA process – given Matawa First Nations’ ongoing legal case calling for a Joint Review Panel assessment – played a significant role in Cliffs decision to halt the project.

“Cliffs wants to work with First Nations on how we’ll cooperatively make sure we have an assessment that works for all of us, so we can assess this project in the best possible way,” Boor said. “We haven’t reached an agreement on that, and one of the issues is the judicial review.”

Boor emphasized that the uncertainty over the federal EA process was only one reason Cliffs decided to temporarily suspend work on the project. He noted that Ontario has still not approved Cliffs’ terms of reference for the provincial EA, and that a number of agreements with the provincial government remain unfinished.

Cliffs’ has also not been granted access to land it requires for an all-weather road to the mine site, another issue that has stalled the project. A land dispute between Cliffs and KWG Resources is currently awaiting ruling from Ontario’s mining commissioner.

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Cliffs should stop pointing fingers, check its corporate ego before resuming work on Ring of Fire – by Ramsey Hart (MiningWatch Canada – June 14, 2013)

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

On Wednesday, US mining company Cliffs Natural Resources announced that it was ceasing work on the environmental assessment process for its high profile chromite project in the area of northern Ontario dubbed the “Ring of Fire”.

Cliffs’ announcement poutedly pointed the finger at the province for not approving the terms of reference the company drafted for its environmental assessment and for not coming to unspecified agreements “critical to the projects economic viability”, i.e. hydro and infrastructure subsidies. The blame was shared with First Nations who are pursuing a legal challenge to the project’s federal environmental assessment and the provincial Mining Land Commissioner for not issuing a decision over a land rights dispute with fellow would-be Ring of Fire mining company KWG.

While the announcement got a fair bit of press including coverage by the Globe and Mail, Financial Post, Star, CBC and Sudbury Star none of the news reports that I’ve seen pointed to Cliffs’ own role in creating these delays.

Back when the project was entering into the environmental review process, Cliffs doggedly refused to support the reasonable and routine call (for a project of this size and complexity) of First Nations and NGOs (MiningWatch included) for a joint review panel assessment process.

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B.C. Liberals accused of breaking election promise over Klappan open-pit coal mine – by Larry Pynn (Vancouver Sun – June 10, 2013)

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

Tahltan First Nation objects to environmental ‘fast-tracking’ of project

The B.C. Liberals risk breaking an important election promise by “fast-tracking” an environmental assessment of an open-pit coal mine in the so-called Sacred Headwaters of the Klappan in northwest B.C., Tahltan First Nation charged Friday.

“There has been opposition and resistance by our people,” said Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhee said in an interview.

“To have an open-pit coal mine right in the headwaters … our people are opposed to development there. We want to see long-term protection that excludes having a coal mine in that area.”

The planned Arctos Anthracite Project would have a footprint of about 4,000 hectares, not including a railway line, and would produce an estimated three million tonnes per year of anthracite coal over the mine’s 25-year life span. Anthracite coal has a high carbon content and burns with a clean flame. It is primarily used in steel and metal making.

The project is a joint venture of Fortune Coal Ltd. and POSCO Klappan Coal Ltd., whose parent company is a South Korean steel giant.

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Province optimistic development will go ahead – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – June 14, 2013)

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

Cliffs Natural Resources’ work in the Ring of Fire may have come to a screeching halt, but the minister of Northern Development and Mines said he’s determined to see the project through.

“I do remain very optimistic about this project,” Michael Gravelle, who’s also the MPP for Thunder Bay, said on the phone. “I think it needs to be understood … that this is a very transformational, large project, in a part of the province that’s never seen development before.

“It’s important that we get this process right. Clearly there are a number of parts that are crucial to this before we can move for ward, and one of them is environmental assessment.”

On Wednesday, Cliffs announced it was temporarily suspending the $3.3-billion project, which includes a smelter in Capreol, until the provincial government takes action on the file. Bill Boor, senior vice-president of global ferroalloys for Cliffs, said Wednesday the company has done as much as it can and now needs to wait for the government to make a move.

“I’m keen to continue to sit down with Cliffs to finalize the arrangements that we’ve been in discussion with the company on,” said Gravelle. “Because of the size of this project … there are going to be challenges along the way, but we are still very confident that the project can move forward.”

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Let’s get on with it [Ring of Fire development] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (June 14, 2013)

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

HAS it really been three years? Has the Ring of Fire mining development been formally pursued for that long? Perhaps the time seems shorter because so little has been done. The potential salvation of the withering Northern Ontario economy has been mostly on hold over a series of delays around the inability of decision makers to make decisions.

A development commonly likened to the mighty Alberta oilsands in terms of economic impact is stalled while those who stand to benefit most stand in its way. Senior governments that would reap enormous tax benefits to apply to large budget deficits, and First Nations with the potential to finally climb out of unskilled poverty, have been unable or unwilling to approve even the processes to advance formal proceedings into the methods by which further exploration will continue, let alone how mines will be built.

No wonder the Ring of Fire’s major player, Cliffs Natural Resources, has just announced a halt to its environmental assessment activities for a chromite mine in the James Bay lowlands known to be brimming with mineral potential.

Cliffs appears to be stymied as to how to proceed because it cannot get a decision from either the provincial or federal governments on which EA processes will be applied. Cliffs may have thought it had an agreement to pursue one process but concerns by First Nations, environmental groups and federal agencies that it was not stringent enough have raised the possibility of tougher requirements.

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Naicatchewenin stakes its own claim in mining – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 11, 2013)

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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Achieving economic self-sufficiency is the driving force behind an entrepreneurial-minded First Nation corporation in northwestern Ontario. Jeremiah Windego, CEO of the Naicatchewenin Development Corporation (NDC), knows Aboriginal communities like his need to take matters into their hands in striving toward creating a local economy that’s eventually free of government handouts.

Windego said Canada’s First Nation population is growing at a rate four per cent annually but Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada funding has been capped at two per cent since 1996.

To Windego, the writing is on the wall, First Nations must make their own breaks. “If we don’t start going in a new direction, at some point that cheque isn’t going to show up, then what do we do?” Forestry has traditionally been an economic driver for NDC but mining poises an “unprecedented time of opportunity” to diversity their investments.

A big part of NDC’s game plan is wealth creation through business ownership and industry partnerships that create more jobs, trains its workforce, and put Aboriginal people in managerial positions.

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NEWS RELEASE: Mining Association of British Columbia and the BC Mining HR Task Force Celebrate the Winners of the 2013 BC Mining HR Diversity Award at the Grand Opening of the New BC AMTA Offices in Williams Lake BC

June 04, 2013 17:14 ET

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwired – June 4, 2013) – The Mining Association of BC (MABC) and the BC Mining HR Task Force (Task Force) are pleased to celebrate the winners of the 2013 BC Mining HR Diversity Award (HR Diversity Award), sponsored by Ernst & Young. The award was presented to the BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association and New Gold on May 1st, 2013, during BC Mining Week, at the Women in Mining Gala in Vancouver.

The award recognizes that the BC AMTA/New Gold initiative has had a significant, positive impact at the New Afton operation, on its employees, and for nearby communities. “This award is about recognizing work that is being done to create opportunities for people who might not have found their way to our industry otherwise,” said Zoë Younger, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at MABC, and HR Diversity Award co-chair. “One of the neat things about this program is that it can continue to grow, and the approach can be duplicated in communities across BC where mines are opening or operating,” she added.

While each submission had its strength, the joint BC AMTA and New Gold nomination presented the strongest emphasis on encouraging and supporting diversity within the workplace, with tangible results. The metrics associated with the BC AMTA initiative speak for themselves, and their vision in creating a program that provides skills, training and work experience for Aboriginal people in our industry is being duly recognized.

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Goldcorp – Éléonore mine: [First Nations] People in partnership in northern Quebec – by John O’Hanlon (Business Excellence Mining – June 4, 2013

http://www.bus-ex.com/

ADVERTORIAL

James Bay, a tongue of water licking out between Ontario and Quebec, is by any standards remote. The Cree nation that lives on its shores have staked their claim, not always without difficulty, to such economic development as has taken place in the region, but today the greatest impact on their way of life is undoubtedly mining.

Nobody coming into this area should doubt the need to involve the Cree, as traditional owners of the land, in their plans. Perhaps the highest profile local business to have been developed is Air Creebec, founded in 1982 and today carrying more than 60,000 passengers a year – it’s a wholly-owned Cree enterprise, and its largest customer is Goldcorp, one of the world’s fastest growing senior gold producers, with operations and development projects located throughout the Americas. Goldcorp plans to fly more than a third of that number to its Éléonore project during 2013.

A Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Goldcorp employs more than 16,000 people worldwide however one of its most significant current projects is its fast developing Éléonore project located some 200 kilometres inland from the Cree centre of Wemindji on the east cost of James Bay. When it comes into operation in 2014, according to figures from a pre-feasibility study published in 2011, it should be processing 3,500 tonnes of gold bearing ore a day, extracted from an underground resource that is known to have a lot more potential than so far confirmed.

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First Nations Chief’s charting economic success in Northern Manitoba – by Frank Busch (Troy Media – June 2, 2013)

http://www.troymedia.com/

Frank Busch is Director of Information and Marketing with the First Nations Finance Authority. The views expressed, however, are his own.

WESTBANK FIRST NATION, BC, Jun 2, 2013/ Troy Media/ – The Chiefs of Northern Manitoba gathered in Winnipeg for the 2013 Manitoba KeewatinowiOkimakanak (MKO) Economic Summit, Trade Show and Jobs Fair recently. MKO has their work cut out for them as they attempt to chart a course from poverty to prosperity. While approximately $3 billion in revenue from hydro, mining, forestry, fisheries and tourism is generated in Northern Manitoba every year, the First Nations in that region remain some of the poorest in the country. The MKO Chiefs understand that First Nations have been left out in the past and cannot afford to be left out in the future.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” says Chief Garrison Settee of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation “it’s not enough to just talk about economic development, we have to make it happen.”

Manitoba Hydro alone will invest more than $34 billion in Northern Manitoba over the next 20 years. The main projects to be undertaken are Bipole III Transmission Project, the Keeyask and Conawapa generating stations, their associated domestic AC transmission facilities and a new Canada-U.S. transmission interconnection. The issue put to the MKO Chiefs is on how to best navigate these uncharted waters.

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Issue of SEC disclosure rules applying to first nations still debated – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – June 3, 2013)

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 — Before opening its Meadowbank gold mine in Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. concluded an impact-benefits agreement with the local Inuit regional business council and is now negotiating a second deal for its Meliadine project in the territory.

While the business association operates on behalf of the local population, the financial terms of the agreements are confidential despite Agnico Eagle’s desire to make them public.

Louise Grondin, the company’s senior vice-president for sustainability, said the company is keen to have the full agreement disclosed. “We want to have this thing public so people know what is going on, and where the money goes and how much money.”

Agnico Eagle is listed in the U.S. and, under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, must disclose all payments to governments for its projects in Canada, Finland and Mexico. But there continues to be considerable debate over whether first nations, who claim the right to self-government, should be covered by the SEC rules.

Toronto lawyer John Olthuis – who has represented aboriginal communities in benefits negotiations – said the band council and their representatives should not be considered governments because as they have no power to tax or set royalties.

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Cameco, Areva, sign deal with Saskatchewan First Nation for uranium mine – by John Cotter (Canadian Press/Global News – May 31, 2013)

http://globalnews.ca/toronto/

PATUANAK, Sask. – Uranium giants Cameco and Areva have reached a $600-million deal with a Saskatchewan First Nation that supports their mining operations and drops a lawsuit over land near the proposed Millennium project.

The collaborative agreement is with the English River First Nation, a band of more than 1,000 people who live on seven small reserves in the province’s northwest. Another 400 people live off-reserve.

“This introduces a level of stability and predictability around employment, business training and community investment and environmental stewardship,” Cameco vice-president Gary Merasty said Thursday.

“This is a little more certainty around project development. If there is a lawsuit hanging over, you know that introduces a level of risk to the project.” A formal signing ceremony is to be held Friday in the community of Patuanak, about 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

Most of the money is to flow to the First Nation over 10 years through contracts with band-owned businesses and wages to band members, who are expected to work at the mines and on community development projects.

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Up front negotiations vital [between First Nations and miners] – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – May 30, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – It is believed there are enough mineral wealth within the Ring of Fire to boost the Northeastern economy for decades to come. However, any excitement from the mining industry has been tempered by a sense of impending conflict with First Nation communities in the region.

Phil Fontaine, former national chief of Assembly of First Nations, suggested conflicts are inevitable if mining companies play by the “old rules” and try imposing their will onto First Nation communities.

“Resource interests should strive to negotiate with First Nations up front instead of the way it was done in the past, as an afterthought,” said Fontaine, who was a keynote speaker at the Big Event mining expo in Timmins Thursday.

He stressed the importance of gaining an understanding and appreciation of the history and values of the people within the communities in which mining companies are proposing to work.

Fontaine noted when the discovery of the Ring of Fire was initially announced, there was “great excitement” about the “significant possibilities” for this region.

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Mining Future is Bright for First Nations – by Stan Sudol (Onotassiniik – Summer 2013)

A version of this column was recently published in the premier issue of Onotassiniik, Wawatay’s Mining Quarterly http://onotassiniik.com/

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based mining analyst, communications consultant and owner/editor of the RepublicOfMining.com website. www.republicofmining.com  stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

While this year’s PDAC mining convention was filled with gloom and doom for both junior explorers and large miners, let’s remember that we are still in the middle of one of the largest expansions of mining activity in the history of mankind. Even in past commodity super cycles – the most recent occurred from the mid 1940s to the late 1970s – there were significant “corrections” but the overall trend was always upwards.

Well-respected Scotia Commodity expert Patricia Mohr recently stated that she feels that there will be a slowdown in exploration and mining activity in the next few years but the “bull run” will return in the second half of the decade.

As hundreds of millions of people in China, India and other developing nations urbanize and industrialize they will need the minerals that we dig out of the ground in northern Ontario and Canada. Mining has always been a boom and bust business and it is no different this time.

However, this slowdown will also give the First Nations surrounding the Ring of Fire a chance to access their training and infrastructure needs, allow ample time to complete and resolve environmental studies – hopefully Cliffs and the federal government will come to their senses and switch to the broader Joint Review Panel Environmental Assessment that most First Nations in the Ring of Fire prefer – as well as resolve outstanding resource revenue sharing issues with governments.

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