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Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

Mine tailings in Sudbury, across Canada worth billions – by Darius Snieckus (Sudbury Star/National Observer – March 18, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Waste not, profit much: toxic tailings in Canada could ’re-mined’ for billions of dollars in critical minerals, report says

Toxic tailings discarded at some 10,000 abandoned mines together with those currently being produced by 200 others in operation across Canada could hide a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity as demand for critical minerals explodes globally in the coming decades, a new study has concluded.

Tailings – a byproduct of large-scale mining operations – could be changed “from a liability into asset” by monetizing recovered minerals and metals from current waste for use in renewable energy technologies, data centres, and defence applications, said the report from Action Canada, a leader development programme.

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Northwestern Ontario’s Ring of Fire central in U.S.-Canada trade war: experts – by Michelle Allan (CBC News Thunder Bay – March 17, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

How a remote peat bog became a key figure in a global political conflict

The Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario has become a key figure in the battle to control critical minerals, which experts say is the heart of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada.

While a remote Ontario peat bog may not be the stage that first comes to mind when picturing the geopolitical conflict, the critical minerals beneath it are essential to renewable energy and digital technology.

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Indigenous Services minister says economic reconciliation essential amid Canada-U.S. trade war – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – March 17, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Education, training for Indigenous people key to closing productivity gap: Hajdu

As the new federal government grapples with how to tackle the growing trade war between Canada and the U.S., Patty Hajdu says a key opportunity to strengthen domestic economies lies with reconciliation.

While more than a dozen positions have been cut in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s lean 24-person cabinet — down from 39 members under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Hajdu has maintained her role as minister of Indigenous Services.

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A $250M investment will help this lithium mine get up and running. That’s bad news for these tribes. – by Anita Hofschneider (Grist.org – March 13, 2025)

https://grist.org/

Tribes have tried and failed to stop the project in court. A new report says it violates Indigenous rights.

A Canadian mining company behind a massive new lithium mine in northern Nevada has received a $250 million investment to complete construction of the new mine — a project that aims to accelerate America’s shift from fossil fuel-powered cars but that has come under fierce criticism from neighboring tribal nations and watchdog groups for its proximity to a burial site.

Lithium Americas is developing the mine in an area known as Thacker Pass where it plans to unearth lithium carbonate that can be used to make batteries for electric vehicles. The area, known as Peehee Mu’huh in the Numu language of the Northern Paiute, is home to what could be the largest supply of lithium in the United States and is also a site that tribal citizens visit every year to honor dozens of Native men, women, and children who fled American soldiers in an 1865 unprovoked attack at dawn.

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Nickel miners dig up Indonesia’s Gebe Island despite Indigenous and legal opposition – by Jaya Barends (Mongabay.com – March 11, 2025)

Mongabay – Conservation News

GEBE ISLAND, Indonesia — Abdul Manan Magtiblo watched the excavator dump a piece of Gebe Island into the back of a truck. Barely a thicket remained on the buzz-cut upland above Umera village as the vehicle drove off to the nearby port.

“That’s the PT Bartra Putra Mulia [BPM] nickel mine,” Manan, the village chief, told Mongabay Indonesia. Locals like Manan say life has become harder since 2020, when the company began operating here on Gebe, a remote island of fewer than 6,000 people in the Halmahera Sea, on Indonesia’s Pacific rim.

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Ontario First Nation leaders tell resource companies not to negotiate with provincial Métis group (CBC News Sudbury – March 5, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

The Métis Nation of Ontario rejects allegations that it’s not a legitimate rights holder

Ontario First Nation leaders used this week’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference to demand that resource companies not negotiate with the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO).

They say the Métis group has no legitimate right to be consulted on projects on their lands or to benefit from such projects – an allegation the MNO rejects. “There are no historic Métis in our territories,” said Jason Batise, the executive director of the Wabun Tribal Council.

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Ontario mining industry dealing with unclear rules for Indigenous engagement – by Alan S. Hale (The Trillium – March 5, 2025)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

Ontario mining companies say they’re ready to work with Indigenous communities, but this week’s PDAC conference shows rules for doing so are far from settled

Even with the United States trade war casting a shadow over the event, Indigenous participation in the mining industry was the hot topic at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto, which wrapped up on Wednesday.

At least one major deal was signed between a mining company and First Nations this week. Meanwhile, Canadian Mining Association President Pierre Gratton told investors at the conference Monday that the industry is eager to make deals with Indigenous communities and accommodate their needs.

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Doug Ford uses mining conference speech to push for fast-tracking critical mineral extraction (CBC News Sudbury – March 03, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

First Nation advocates say it can’t happen at the expense of their rights

Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated his promise Monday to speed up mineral extraction in the Ring of Fire, but advocates for First Nations say it can’t happen at the expense of Indigenous treaty rights.

Ford told an audience at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs take aim at the Ontario economy, and Ontario needs to prepare for “anything and everything.” “Together we need to build a stronger, more resilient and self-sufficient economy,” Ford said.

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Advocate raises concerns about Indigenous exclusion during mining conference session – by Sam Laskaris (Windspeaker – March 6, 2025)

https://windspeaker.com/

With a focus on lands, resources, energy, critical minerals, climate policy and reconciliation, Katherine Koostachin has spent the past 15 years advancing Indigenous priorities. Koostachin, a member of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, says there are troubling gaps in Canada’s dealings with Indigenous peoples.

Koostachin was a speaker March 3 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. The PDAC conference is considered the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention.

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Outraged by Toronto mining convention, protestors disrupt opening day proceedings – by Alex Flood (Timmins Today – March 4, 2025)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Mining Injustice members blocked the northside entrance to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for 30 minutes during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention on Sunday

TORONTO – The world’s largest mining convention is well underway inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, but outside, a lively protest denouncing the companies for their alleged unethical roles with international excavation projects has taken shape.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is expected to bring tens of thousands of representatives from the global mining industry to the city’s downtown core between Sunday and Wednesday.

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Ford sends message to Ottawa on Ring of Fire: Get out of our way – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 3, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Premier delivers sense of urgency in pushing for expedited approvals, development of critical minerals projects

Premier Doug Ford is ready to shove Ottawa out of the way to make progress in the Ring of Fire. Fresh off last week’s provincial election win and armed with a strong majority, an emboldened Ford appeared at the PDAC mining show in Toronto, March 3, ready to pick a fight with the feds in order to expedite critical minerals production in the face of a looming trade war with the U.S.

Calling Ontario as being in a pandemic-like “survival mode,” Ford said he’s taking bold policy steps, backed by investments, to build a resilient economy and to use critical minerals production as leverage against the Trump administration’s expected tariffs on Canadian goods.

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Ring of Fire access roads may not be complete until 2040 – by Alan S. Hale (The Trillium – March 2, 2025)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

Two of the three Indigenous-led environmental assessments of the access roads to the Ring of Fire are nearly complete, but the third is expected to take three more years, followed by a decade of construction

Despite the Progressive Conservative government’s promises to fast-track the building of roads to the proposed Ring of Fire mining development in northwestern Ontario as a way to build “Fortress Am-Can” with the United States, current estimates suggest the final leg of the all-season road to the project site won’t be completed until sometime between 2035 and 2040.

At the same time, significant progress is being made on all three access roads needed to connect the Ring of Fire, Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation with the TransCanada Highway.

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Norway House chief says First Nations can help Manitoba’s potential to be global ‘Costco of critical minerals’ – by Ozten Shebahkeget (CBC News Manitoba – March 02, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/

Manitoba, Canada neglect First Nations mining despite clear benefits, Chief Larson Anderson says

The chief of the only First Nation to fully own a mining company in Manitoba says he wants the provincial and federal governments to recognize his community’s role in boosting critical mineral exploration as a global race to secure those materials heats up.

Norway House Cree Nation Chief Larson Anderson says his community took full ownership of the Minago nickel project on the Thompson nickel belt in November. The mine could enter production within the next five years, he said.

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Indigenous Affairs Minister is nowhere to be seen – by Jon Thompson (Ricochet Media – February 26, 2025)

https://ricochet.media/indigenous/

Greg Rickford’s opponents wanted the opportunity to debate him on the Ring of Fire mining development

Ontario’s election is entering the final stretch and Greg Rickford is nowhere to be found. The Kenora-Rainy River riding incumbent, who was most recently the minister of both northern development and Indigenous affairs, has not submitted to any media interviews or public debates. His NDP opponent finds it familiar.

When Rudy Turtle led the River Run demonstration to march on Queen’s Park in September, the former Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) Chief was hoping to meet with the Minister and the Premier.

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No harm from tailings, says McEwen Mining about First Nation allegations – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 26, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Matheson miner argues no share compensation arrangement exists with First Nation

Matheson gold producer McEwen Mining contends there’s no cause for concern regarding its mine waste tailings storage facility that a nearby First Nation claims is causing environment harm and is a human health risk.

In a news release, McEwen responded to a lawsuit that was launched this month by Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (AAN) against the Toronto gold company for allegedly violating an impact benefit agreement (IBA) between the two parties.

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