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Canada Mining – North of 60

Honour of the Crown at stake as Yukon fails to consult on mining application, says Nation – by Shari Narine (Welland Tribune/Windspeaker.com – March 16, 2021)

https://www.wellandtribune.ca/

For the second time in eight years, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun is challenging the Yukon government in court over a land-use plan.

“This kind of litigation isn’t good for anybody and it’s really disappointing that, now twice, two successive Yukon governments have approached land-use planning in a way that has resulted in judicial action being the only recourse available to the First Nation,” said Nuri G. Frame, legal counsel for Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

On March 15, the First Nation filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Yukon challenging the Yukon government’s decision to approve Metallic Minerals Corporation’s (MMC) application for quartz mining in the Beaver River land-use area.

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OPINION: Canada’s North: By China for China – by Jessica M. Shadian (Globe and Mail – March 12, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Hey Canada, remember early in the pandemic when China “participated in the pragmatic co-operation” with us to make a vaccine? Well, it is about to happen again in the Arctic.

Last week, China released its 2021-25 strategic plan to engage in “pragmatic co-operation” to build its “Polar Silk Road,” a smaller piece of its overall Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

You know, the one where all global supply chains, infrastructure, trade logistics and resources lead to Beijing, underpinned by Huawei and Alibaba?

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Top defence official says China is a threat to Canadian Arctic – by Robert Fife (Globe and Mail – March 11, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

China is a growing threat to Canadian interests in the Arctic because of its need for natural resources, a top Defence Department official warned.

In frank comments to the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence, deputy minister Jody Thomas said on Wednesday that Beijing is turning its attention to the Northwest Passage as melting ice opens up Arctic sea lanes to shipping and resource exploitation, including fish, petroleum and critical minerals.

China’s designs on minerals in Canada’s North in part prompted the development of a joint U.S.-Canada strategy to reshape global critical mineral supply chains and reduce reliance on China. Beijing has moved aggressively in recent years to tighten its control of rare-earth minerals, which are crucial for manufacturing high-tech and military products.

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Giant Mine contamination apology discussions underway, says Yellowknives Dene First Nation – by Hannah Paulson (CBC News North – March 4, 2021)

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

‘The destruction of the ecosystem that we have always enjoyed is a very painful history,’ chief says

A First Nation in the Northwest Territories is expecting to receive an apology from the federal government for the contamination of its land.

That’s according to Ed Sangris, chief of Dettah, N.W.T., who says the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) are expecting the process for an apology from the federal government, for the harms caused by contamination from the former Giant Mine, to begin in June.

A spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada confirmed that the federal government has never apologized for the harm suffered by Indigenous people following the development and contamination of land caused by mining in the North.

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Nunavut mine’s study on caribou roundly rejected – by Thomas Rohner (CBC News North – March 2, 2021)

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

Agnico Eagle commissions study that finds mining road has virtually no impact on migrating caribou

A scientific analysis commissioned by Agnico Eagle that found the mining road near Meliadine Mine in the Kivalliq region is having virtually no impact on migrating caribou is being roundly criticized by Nunavut agencies.

“It became pretty clear that they’re not analyzing data correctly,” Clayton Tartak, research coordinator with the Kivalliq Wildlife Board, told CBC News.

Community organizations and members near the mine participated in a roundtable discussion held by the Nunavut Impact Review Board last month.

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Key Inuit organization signals it will oppose Baffinland iron ore mine expansion – by Niall McGee (February 22, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The regional Inuit organization that represents the Inuit on Baffin Island is signalling it will likely oppose the proposed expansion of the Mary River iron ore mine because of the damage it believes would be wreaked on the environment and on the livelihoods of the Indigenous population.

Privately held Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. has proposed doubling its production at Mary River to 12 million tonnes a year.

The Oakville, Ont.-based miner also wants to build a railroad that would transport ore from its complex in North Baffin to Milne Port, about 100 kilometres away. Baffinland says the expansion is crucial to turn a marginal operation into a profit-making one.

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Nunavut mine says it’s not allowed to harm Inuit harvesting – by Beth Brown (CBC News North – February 17, 2021)

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

In the wake of last week’s blockade, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation says it has heard the call to slow down plans to expand production at the Mary River mine.

“It’s unfortunate that they felt they had to go to those extremes to be heard,” said Udloriak Hanson, Baffinland’s vice-president of community and sustainable development, about the protesters who blockaded the mine’s airstrip and trucking road for a week.

Baffinland wants to double the mine’s output from six to 12 million tonnes of iron ore by building a railway and increasing shipping through a narwhal habitat. The protesters say that would damage the environment, and affect their harvesting rights.

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Mary River mine blockade highlights Nunavut Agreement’s fatal flaw – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – February 12, 2021)

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The land claim agreement empowers Inuit organizations — and disempowers Inuit communities

All of us who care about Nunavut will be relieved that the protesters who occupied the Mary River mine’s airstrip and tote road for most of this past week have decided to end their blockade. Because in doing so, they’ve avoided a potentially ugly confrontation.

The protesters, who call themselves the Nuluujaat Land Guardians, blockaded Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s mine on north Baffin over this past week to oppose its proposed expansion, and to protest the Qikiqtani Inuit Association’s role in the process.

The expansion, which is still before a public hearing, would double the mine’s output and see a 110-kilometre railway combined with up to 176 ship-transits through the environmentally sensitive waters of Eclipse Sound.

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Inuit hunters’ blockade at Mary River iron ore mine lifted after meeting proposed to discuss concerns – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 12, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A week-long blockade by a small group of Inuit subsistence hunters at the Mary River iron ore mine in Nunavut has been lifted, after protestors received encouraging signs that their concerns about a planned expansion of the mine will be heard.

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. has proposed doubling its production of iron ore at Mary River to 12 million tonnes a year. The privately held miner also wants to build a railroad that would transport ore from its complex in North Baffin to Milne Port, about 100 kilometres away.

On the evening of Feb. 4, a group of hunters set up blockades at an airstrip and supply road at the mine in Baffin Island. The hunters said they were concerned that a bigger operation at Mary River could decimate the marine mammal population, which they depend upon for food.

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The Dragon roams the Arctic – by Dr A. Adityanjee (Sunday Guardian Live – February 6, 2021)

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Dr A. Adityanjee is President, The Council for Strategic Affairs.

The Arctic region is home to almost four million inhabitants, of which approximately one-tenth are indigenous people. The United States Geological Survey estimates that up to 25-30% of the world’s remaining oil and natural gas resources might be held within the Arctic Region.

The five littoral states, Canada, Russia, USA (Alaska), Denmark (Greenland) and Norway, have competing claims over the Arctic. Together with the five Arctic littoral states, three regional states, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, constitute the eight-member Arctic Council.

The Arctic is considered the final frontier for the human to conquer. Resource competition and human migration will become facts of life in the Arctic region as the snow melts.

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Baffinland seeks court injunction to permanently end Inuit blockade at Nunavut mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 11, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. is seeking a court injunction to permanently end an almost week-long blockade by Inuit subsistence hunters that has caused havoc at its Mary River iron ore mine in Nunavut.

Last Thursday, a group of hunters set up blockades at an airstrip and supply road at the mine, saying their concerns about a planned expansion of the facility haven’t been heard. They fear an expansion would hurt the environment and their livelihoods.

Oakville, Ont.-based Baffinland said the blockades are preventing employees from leaving the mine, and stopping key supplies, such as food and medicine, from getting in.

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Mary River mine needs a railway to survive, new economic report says – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – February 8, 2021)

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Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River mine is unlikely to survive without a railway to carry greater quantities of ore to Milne Inlet, says a report commissioned by the company.

The report, titled Mary River Project Economics Explained, was submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board this month during its public hearing on Baffinland’s expansion proposal for the Mary River mine, which adjourned Feb. 6 and is to resume in March.

The company filed the economic report in response to an earlier economic analysis done for the Oceans North conservation group by a firm called OpenOil, which said Baffinland’s existing truck route is capable of making a profit for the company.

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Mary River mine at a standstill as hunters’ blockades enter 5th day – by Dustin Patar (Nunatsiaq News – February 8, 2021)

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A blockade of the Mary River iron mine continued into its fifth day, as a group of hunters opposed to the mine’s expansion demanded they be recognized as an Inuit association and be paid a portion of the royalties the mine generates.

“We would like to see actual negotiations with the most impacted communities and have us involved right away,” said Naymen Inuarak, one of the hunters currently at the Mary River mine site, in an interview via satellite phone. “We’ve been ignored way too long.”

Late last Thursday, a group of seven hunters from Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet arrived at the mine site and shut down the airstrip and road that leads to Milne Inlet, in protest of the mine’s Phase 2 expansion.

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Commentary: Poor information allowed to be tabled on Mary River economics – by Ken Armstrong (Nunatsiaq News – February 2021)

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Ken Armstrong is the President of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

I write in reference to the Jan. 30 Nunatsiaq News story, “Despite Baffinland’s claims, truck route still makes money, expert says,” discussing the findings of a report commissioned by Oceans North and prepared by a Berlin-based third-party consultant, OpenOil, that was submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board public registry.

Stepping back for a moment, the purpose of the current NIRB hearing is to facilitate informed decision-making by the board with respect to Baffinland’s Mary River phase-two proposal.

Under the Nunavut Agreement, the primary functions of the NIRB include review of environmental and socio-economic impacts of project proposals in order to make a determination about whether the project should proceed for subsequent consideration by the minister.

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Inuit hunters blockade Nunavut iron ore mine in effort to have environmental concerns heard – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A small gathering of Inuit subsistence hunters are staging a blockade at the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. complex in Nunavut, claiming that their concerns about a proposed expansion of the Mary River mine have not been heard.

Privately-held Baffinland said that two groups of hunters had gathered at the mine on Baffin Island on Thursday night – one at the company’s airstrip, and the other on the supply road that leads out of the mine.

The Oakville, Ont.-based miner has proposed doubling its production of iron ore at Mary River to 12 million tonnes a year, from six million tonnes.

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