Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas – Page 231

GRAND COUNCIL TREATY #3 NEWS RELEASE: CONTROVERSIAL “MINERS UNITED” GROUP WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN TREATY #3 TERRITORY – TREATY #3 COMMUNITIES PROMMISED TO SHARE IN MINERAL WEALTH IN THEIR TERRITORY

April 9, 2012April 6, 2012

Grand Council Treaty #3 – Office of the Ogichidaakwe

Kenora – March 30, 2012

News

Earlier this week, the Globe and Mail reported on a meeting of a group of junior mining companies who have met under the name “Miners United.” In the March 27, 2012 newspaper account a “revolt” by the group was said to be happening because of First Nations’ requests for Resource Benefit Sharing, compensation for loss of Treaty Harvesting Areas, and capacity building.

“We agree that the Crown must do more than what is now being proposed within the Mining Act regime,” said Treaty #3 Ogichidaakwe (Grand Chief) Diane Kelly. In responding to the article, Kelly added, “we disagree strongly with the ‘hard-line’ tactics discussed at the Miners United forum.”

She added that the Grand Council Treaty #3 Chiefs-in-Assembly found the comments in the article to be totally unacceptable by depicting community leaders as greedy and money-hungry. “We see ourselves as protectors of the land,” she said.

In many instances, Treaty #3 communities have developed strong partnerships with mining companies because of the early commitment of companies to talk with us, build our capacity to understand the projects and the real impacts and potential benefits,” Kelly said.

Mining Now – Sit down together, show each other respect, and lets get things done – by James Murray (NetNewsLedger.com – March 30, 2012)

April 6, 2012

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – It could be suggested that instead of sitting down to work toward real solutions, the Ontario Government has established a platform for what might be a massive fight between junior mining companies and First Nations. Perhaps the epi-centre of that fight has already started in the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (KI).

The McGuinty Government has moved twice now to buy out mining companies, and has moved on its own from what the Chief of KI, Donny Morris is reporting, first to take out lands from mining exploration, and second in buying out the mining companies rather than open talks and sit down with all concerned parties and serve as a responsible government might do.

The solution offered by Minister Bartolucci in first taking all lands in the KI land claim out of contention for mining, and second in buying out the mining company sends the wrong messages to First Nations, miners, prospectors and investors.

Junior mining companies are banding together in a group called Miners United to start working together to oppose some of the efforts by First Nations on land claims. Some of the concerns being raised are because it appears that the McGuinty Government is more interested in the optics of looking good in Toronto rather than working to solve real problems.

Canadian junior miners claim ‘lack of industry support’ in disputes with First Nations – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 29, 2012)

April 6, 2012

www.mining.com

Cecilia Jamasmie is a news editor at MINING.com.

Canadian exploration companies feel their industry association doesn’t hear them, Neal Smitheman, a lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations, told CBC.

According to the attorney, the Prospectors and Developers Association tries, but fails to represent both parties. Smitheman represents a group of 60 junior companies, which call themselves “Miners United.”

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he told CBC.

The Globe and Mail reports this group got together at the recent PDAC, in Toronto, only days after the Ontario government withdrew from exploration all lands near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) community, 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The decision was in response to opposition by that band, which has opposed any mining activity on what they consider its traditional territory.

NEWS RELEASE: Rainy River Resources Signs Participation Agreement with Rainy River Area First Nations

April 5, 2012

04/03/2012

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – April 3, 2012) – Rainy River Resources Ltd. (“Rainy River” or the “Company”) (TSX:RR) and the Naicatchewenin First Nation, Rainy River First Nations, Mitaanjigamiing First Nation, Couchiching First Nation, Lac La Croix First Nation and Seine River First Nation (together, the “First Nations”) are pleased to announce the signing of a Participation Agreement (“PA” or “Impact and Benefits Agreement”) with respect to the development and operation of the Company’s Rainy River Gold Project, located in Northwestern Ontario. The PA is the culmination of negotiations initiated by the parties pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding entered into in May of 2010.

The PA was developed together with the First Nations, each of which is a member of the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, in order to define their participation in the development and operation of the Rainy River Gold Project. The agreement identifies key project milestones and ways to work together with the First Nations, as the Company initiates mine environmental assessment and permitting in 2012.

The PA sets out a schedule of benefits that the First Nations communities will receive, including employment and business opportunities, funding to support skills development, occupational training and education, as well as equity participation. The PA reflects the Company’s continued commitment to environmental stewardship, respect for First Nations’ traditional culture and values and the need for economic sustainability.

[Northwestern Ontario] Aboriginal mining careers promoted in training portal – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2012)

April 4, 2012

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.

Mining 101

Aboriginal youth in northwestern Ontario are getting a head-start on training opportunities in the mining industry.

Oshki-Pimanche-O-Win Education and Training Institute is receiving more than $700,000 from Ottawa and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to inform and steer young people in the 16-to-29 age range toward careers in the minerals sector.

A project called Learning 2 Mine will provide training and work experiences in the industry for Aboriginal youth in Northern Ontario. The project will focus on increasing “mining literacy” and training them in essential skills.

Gordon Kakegamic, Oshki-Pimanche-O-Win’s e-learning coordinator, said the first part of this two-phase project is a sort of Mining 101 course, giving young people some fundamental knowledge of this industry sector.

[Ontario First Nations] Bands stymie Ring of Fire plans – Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – April 1, 2012

April 1, 2012

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

IN their budgets this week Ontario and Ottawa placed much stock in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit here in Northern Ontario. The province is anxious for a big boost to an economy wasted by recession. The feds want business to drive the economy. Both singled out the Ring of Fire.

But all is not well in the northern mining patch. First nations are demanding consultation. A legal “duty to consult” has failed in most cases to facilitate successful conclusions to aboriginal claims. Government can’t seem to break the logjam and while some companies have successfully negotiated agreements with neighbouring first nations, others are stymied — and annoyed.

At the mining industry’s recent national conference in Toronto, a splinter group of some 60 junior companies called Miners United met. They are concerned about native demands for concessions and cash. Bands are charging for exploratory drilling and the price often tops $100,000. Junior firms say they cannot afford it.

NEWS RELEASE: KI CALLS FOR RESUMPTION OF GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT TALKS

March 30, 2012

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 29, 2012

KI is calling for resumption of government to government talks in the month of June in the wake of the Ontario buyout of God’s Lake Resources mining claims and leases in the KI sacred landscape at Sherman Lake.

“The decision is bittersweet,” said Chief Donny Morris. “KI has a sacred duty under KI Law to assert its jurisdiction, care for the land and protect and honour sacred landscapes and graves of our ancestors. That is why we went to jail in the past and that is why we will defend our lands in the future.” he said.

“KI is pleased that Ontario has acted to protect the KI sacred landscape but disappointed that GLR was able to apparently unjustly enrich themselves at the hands of tax payers,” said Chief Morris.

KI had warned Ontario officials that they were repeating mistakes made when taxpayers paid $5 million to mining exploration company Platinex in 2008 to buy out the company’s claims and leases following a dispute with KI over unwanted drilling and mining exploration.

Andrée Cazabon: A street kid turned filmmaker on a mission [Third World Canada – KI First Nation] – by Sarah Hampson (Globe and Mail – December 9, 2010)

April 5, 2015March 30, 2012

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— “It’s annoying,” Andrée Cazabon says as she screws up her pretty face. “It happened almost 25 years ago. Isn’t someone allowed to move on?”

Her new, heart-wrenching film, Third World Canada, tells the story of eight children who are orphaned when three parents commit suicide in the fly-in native community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, or K.I. for short, in Northern Ontario. Such is the disturbing portrayal of the social and psychological fabric in the community that all the Canadian broadcasters Ms. Cazabon has approached have turned it down. One of the boys in the film regularly acts out his father’s hanging because he was locked in the room with him when he committed suicide. But she refuses to consider changing it.

Despite her fierce commitment to bringing awareness to the plight of aboriginal children – the film was screened at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa last week as a fundraising event that coincided with a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations – her own story as a former street kid is the one she is often asked about.

Ontario junior gets C$3.5m settlement to cede controversial claims – by Matthew Hill (MiningWeekly.com – March 30, 2012)

March 30, 2012

www.miningweekly.com

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Against a backdrop of simmering tensions between aboriginal communities and exploration companies in Ontario, the government announced on Thursday it reached a C$3.5-million settlement with God’s Lake Resources, whereby the company agreed to cede its claims over a contentious area.

The move evokes memories of the 2008 stand-off between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation north of Red Lake, government and a junior called Platinex, which saw the company receiving a similar $5-million payment.

“The government, it seems, has capitulated and has expropriated these claims and compensated God’s Lake for that,” Fasken Martineau DuMoulin lawyer Neal Smitheman said in an interview.

God’s Lake had bumped heads with the KI over its right to explore its exploration claim, located some 130 km north of the community.

God’s Lake vs KI conflict ends in $3.5 million payout – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 29, 2012)

March 30, 2012

This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

The Ontario government has paid $3.5 million to buy out God’s Lake Resource’s controversial claims in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) territory.

The government announced its deal with the junior gold mining company on Mar. 29. Under terms of the settlement God’s Lake agreed to surrender its mining leases and claims.

The land in question was added to the more than 23,000 square kilometers that Ontario previously removed from development in the region. KI Chief Donny Morris said the announcement was good news for his First Nation.

“Now my question to the government is when do we sit down and discuss the real, tangible things,” Morris said. “Everybody thinks we’re anti-development, but we’re not. But we are signatory to the Treaty, and we want to have say over development.”

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Reaches Agreement With God’s Lake Resources

March 29, 2012

McGuinty Government Balances Industry and Aboriginal Interests

NEWS

March 29, 2012

Ontario has reached an agreement with Toronto-based junior mineral exploration company God’s Lake Resources (GLR) to surrender its mining lease and claims near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation.

In keeping with the agreement, GLR has surrendered its mining lease and claims, north of Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The lands are now subject to the Province’s recent withdrawal from staking and mineral exploration in the area.

It was the ministry’s goal to see KI and GLR work together to build a positive relationship. This settlement responds to KI’s concerns, while allowing GLR to move forward with mineral exploration in other parts of the province in the future.

QUOTES

Junior miners seek their own voice – Jody Porter (CBC News – March 29, 2012)

March 29, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2012/03/29/tby-miners-united.html

Exploration companies form new group to share concerns about First Nations

A lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations says some exploration companies feel they’re not being heard by their industry association.

Neal Smitheman said the Prospectors and Developers Association is trying, and sometimes failing, to represent both industry and First Nations.

Smitheman said that ignores the fact the two are often in conflict. Neal Smitheman, lawyer representing junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations.

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he said.