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Canadian Media Resource Articles

De Beers, Canadian partner welcome panel’s report on NWT project (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – July 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.

YELLOWKNIFE — De Beers Canada and its partner Mountain Province Diamonds have received conditional approval from the Northwest Territory’s environmental review panel for their proposed Gahcho Kue open-pit diamond mining project.

The report from the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board says the three-mine project has the potential to harm aquatic life in Kennady Lake, as well as the Bathurst caribou herd – raising concerns about the impact on hunting.

But the board’s panel says the project has economic merit and the environmental impact can be reduced to an acceptable level with appropriate measures.

“De Beers made important commitments to minimize impacts from the Project on the environment including water quality, fish, caribou, other wildlife, air quality, and people,” said the board’s report to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, who will make the final decision on whether the project proceeds and under what conditions.

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Noront offloads interest in Quebec project, focuses on Ring of Fire – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – June 28, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Explorer Eagle Hill has consolidated its ownership of the prospective Windfall Lake project, in the Abitibi mining camp of northern Quebec, as project developer Noront Resources agreed to sell its 25% interest in the project for $5-million in cash and 25-million shares.

Noront said selling its interest, royalty interests and all other associated rights in the noncore asset provided it with an immediate cash infusion that would be put to use in developing the company’s flagship Eagle’s Nest project, in the chromite-rich Ring of Fire-region of northern Ontario, while the equity interest in Eagle Hill would allow it to participate in the upside potential of the Windfall Lake gold project.

Eagle Hill had also entered into a binding letter agreement with its strategic partner Southern Arc, under which Southern Arc Minerals had agreed to invest, together with Dundee Corporation, a total of $12-million in Eagle Hill to complete the Windfall Lake transaction and advance the project. Dundee had been a shareholder in Eagle Hill since February 2012, and currently owned an 18.8% interest in Eagle Hill.

Noront had previously agreed to sell its stake in the Windfall Lake project to gold producer Maudore Minerals. Completing of the transaction was still subject to obtaining shareholder approvals of Eagle Hill and Southern Arc to finance the agreement, for which Eagle Hill had already paid a non-refundable deposit of $615 000 and obtaining all required stock exchange and regulatory approvals.

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Canada aboriginal movement poses new threat to miners – by Julie Gordon and Allison Martell (Reuters Canada – March 17, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – An aboriginal protest movement that’s often compared with Occupy Wall Street has the potential to disrupt mining projects across Canada, threatening to undermine the country’s coveted reputation for low-risk resource development.

Idle No More, a grass-roots movement with little centralized leadership, swept across Canada late last year with the help social media. Protesters blocked roads and rail lines, and staged big rallies in the country’s largest cities to press a sweeping human rights and economic development agenda.

Mining companies are also in the movement’s sights as aboriginal bands seek to renegotiate old agreements and seize more control over mining developments, whether they are on lands designated as native reserves or not.

“We’ve existed in this territory for millennia. We don’t have a land claim – it’s beyond that, actually. Our rights exist throughout all of our territories,” Arlen Dumas, chief of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, said about the northern Manitoba land where HudBay Minerals Inc, a Toronto-based mid-tier miner, is building its Lalor project.

Protesters cut off access to the gold-copper-zinc mine for several hours in early March, demanding talks with the company on an ownership stake in the C$794 million ($773.84 million) project, which has started limited production.

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Attawapiskat protestors hurting First Nations with lawless blockade of De Beers mine – by Jonathan Kay (National Post – February 22, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Canadian politicians and First Nations leaders all agree that economic development will be critical for raising the living standards of Canada’s native population. In many cases, this will mean bringing large, multinational corporations onto traditional native lands — because only these companies have the resources and expertise necessary to develop mines and other capital-extensive resource-extraction operations.

Unfortunately, as the example of Attawapiskat shows, the situation in and around many reserves actively repels that kind of investment.

Large, risk-averse companies won’t invest in areas of the country where the local population doesn’t respect Canadian laws — or even obey local band chiefs. Militant native protesters in these areas may think they’re striking a blow for economic empowerment. But all they’re really doing is reinforcing the stereotype that native tribes aren’t responsible business partners.

The De Beers Victor Mine, located in the lowlands 90 km west of the James Bay Cree community of Attawapiskat, cost $1-billion to create. Before a single diamond particle was extracted, the company negotiated impact benefit agreements (IBAs) with four local communities — including Attawapiskat.

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OPP inaction [on De Beers roadblock] results in ‘lawless’ north – by Brian Lilley (Toronto Sun – Feburary 22, 2013)


Above Commentary by Ezra Levant on February 21, 2013

http://www.torontosun.com/home

Lawyers for the Ontario Provincial Police will appear in court Friday to provide excuses for their inaction in enforcing a court order near the De Beers diamond mine in Northern Ontario.

There are no excuses, and in my view the police force, including OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis, should be cited for contempt. This all stems from a half-dozen protesters from the Attawapiskat First Nation who decided to blockade the winter road that services the mine.

The road is used for resupplying the work site with fuel and equipment too heavy to fly in.

“Due to the blockade, we have lost a total of 14 of the available 20 days to deliver the critical freight and fuel to resupply the mine,” De Beers said in a statement. “Should we not be able to complete the program as planned, we are concerned for the health and safety of our employees at site and the future of our mine.”

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Attawapiskat blockade may force De Beers to close mine – CBC News Thunder Bay (February 19, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Diamond miner says it is still waiting for action on court-ordered injunction

Despite what was called a “successful” meeting with protestors and a court injunction issued Friday, a road block on the winter road to the De Beers diamond mine near Attawapiskat continues. De Beers said if it continues, it may consider temporarily shutting down the operation.

Mine access has been blocked intermittently by a handful of protesters — members of the Attawapiskat band — at several points this month. Some of those people say they have concerns about the community not benefitting enough from the mine.

“These have not been … community initiatives,” De Beers spokesperson Tom Ormsby said. “They’ve been individually driven by individual agendas or individual concerns or claims.”

Because the winter road has a limited lifespan and it’s not possible to ship some supplies by air, De Beers might have to simply lock the front gate. “If we do not get our supplies in, all things are on the table, including a possible closure,” Ormsby added.

Ormsby said the company is still waiting on the court injunction to be acted upon to disband protesters and re-open the road to the Victor Mine.

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Attawapiskat blockaders served injunction: Report (Toronto Sun Video Report – February 17, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

A sheriff presented a group of people blocking the road to a diamond mine in Attawapiskat with a court injunction Sunday, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network reported.

The station said the sheriff appears to have flown to the airport at the De Beers Victor mine and then drove 90 km to the blockade site. The ice road from the mine does not cross through reserve land, though the area is Attawapiskat’s claimed traditional territory.

Accompanied by two OPP officers, the sheriff read the injunction to a handful of blockaders before posting it, APTN said on its site.

Last Friday, De Beers diamond mine officials asked a Timmins judge for the injunction to end the illegal blockades that have prevented supplies from entering the company’s mine off and on for nearly two weeks.

Residents say the blockades are about the mine’s environmental impact on their community and about proper compensation.

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Canadian native protesters block road to De Beers mine – Reuters (MiningWeekly.com – February 13, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO – Native protesters have blocked the winter access road to De Beers’ Victor mine in Northern Canada for the second time in less than two weeks, raising concerns over supplying the diamond project before the spring thaw makes the site inaccessible except by air, the company said on Wednesday.

De Beers, a subsidiary of Anglo American, has a window of about 45 days to complete its winter transportation programme on the ice road. The company’s trucks have so far faced disruptions on eight of 12 days since the programme was launched.

De Beers Canada has notified the protesters and the local community of a potential legal action in an effort to regain control of the transport corridor for fuel, machinery and other large supplies, spokesperson Tom Ormsby told Reuters.

“We need action at this point to get the road open, that’s our priority,” said Ormsby. “There will be economic consequences for all involved if we cannot successfully complete this programme, and it impacts the operation of the mine.”

The most recent barricade was set up on Sunday by a small group of protesters who are demanding the company provide compensation for the loss of traditional trap line territory.

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First Nations must ‘learn from’ De Beers deal – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – February 13, 2013)

 

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Documents show Attawapiskat gets 0.5% share of annual diamond revenues

Disputes over the value of Attawapiskat’s nearby diamond mine provide a lesson for other First Nations considering mining deals, according to the Assembly of First Nations’ Ontario Regional Chief.

“It’s a learning tool and we have to learn from that,” Stan Beardy said. “But going to the future, I think we need to look at what is fair, what is adequate and what is reasonable.” Members of Attawapiskat First Nation erected another blockade this week on the road to the mine.

According to the First Nation’s trust fund documents, Attawapiskat receives about $2 million annually from De Beers as a royalty. Based on information available on the company’s website, the annual revenue of De Beers’ diamond production at its Victor Mine near Attawapiskat is about $400 million.

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Attawakpiskat’s De Beers protest ill-directed – by Lorne Gunter (Toronto Sun – February 13, 2013)

 http://www.torontosun.com/home

On Sunday evening, just three days after an earlier blockade had been lifted, a group of about 12 aboriginal protesters from Attawapiskat, Ont., once again closed the winter road to the De Beers diamond mine 90 km west of the First Nations settlement. De Beers counts on the frozen road to resupply fuel, building materials and heavy equipment for the entire year since the ground around the giant excavation is too soft in summer to permit heavy loads.

This second blockade seems to be the doing a single family — the Edwards. And they claim their grievance with De Beers is over lack of compensation from miners for infringing on the family’s long-time traplines.

But if that’s their complaint, their grievance is with their own leaders at Attawapiskat, not with De Beers.

In late 2005, three years before the mine officially opened, De Beers concluded an “impact benefit agreement” (IBA) with Attawapiskat leaders. The IBA was approved in a referendum by 85% of residents.

Since that time, De Beers has paid money into a trust administered by the band council. The company is currently putting in an average of $3 million annually so the band has money to pay claims of lost livelihood and income from mine activity — precisely like the Edwards family.

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[Attawapiskat] Leaders out of their mines – Toronto Sun Editorial (February 8, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

With little else to do in Attawapiskat, and with no leadership worth noting, it is no surprise that a bunch of residents from that frozen ghetto would bite the hand that feeds them with a blockade of the ice road to the De Beers diamond mine.

It is just one more example in a long list of why unmanageable and unsustainable reserves like Attawapiskat should be shut down.

After all, De Beers has only deposited around $300 million into the band council’s coffers over five years – that’s $60 million per annum, or $50,000 per resident per year – so there’s no sense letting that good deed go unpunished, now is there?

So block the road.And who cares if 100 of the 500 employees at that mine are actually Cree workers from Attawapiskat? Let them eat frozen cake. And, most of all, why allow them to be examples to others when the federal government, via the taxpayer, will continue pumping in the cash to all and sundry with disappointing results.

And, while we’re at it, why not give a big raise to whatever lawyer the band hired to make its deal with De Beers? Why? Because De Beers purportedly signed what amounts to a non-disclosure clause with Chief Theresa Spence’s crew to not reveal what any of that $300 million is for, or how it is spent.

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Attawapiskat diamond mine blockade continues, protesters eye De Beers airport – by Jorge Barrera (APTN National News – February 6, 2013)

http://www.aptn.ca/

An Attawapiskat blockade of a winter road leading to a diamond mine operated by De Beers could last until spring and expand to the company’s airport, says Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

Spence said the handful of protestors who launched the blockade on Monday said they won’t end their protest until they get some concrete changes to the impact benefit agreement (IBA) between Attawapiskat and De Beers.

“The people who are blocking have a lot of concerns,” said Spence, who is currently on sick leave and recovering from her six week-long protest fast.

Spence attended a community meeting held Tuesday evening that ran until near midnight. About 60 people attended the meeting which included De Beers officials. Another meeting began Wednesday at about 5 p.m.

Spence said during Tuesday’s meeting one community member discussed giving De Beers 48 hours to vacate the mine before facing a blockade at its airport. The mining company flies out its diamonds via charters with schedules known only to a few key people.

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Blockade a ‘symptom’ of ongoing Attawapiskat issues: Wynne – by Antonella Artuso (Toronto Sun – February 6, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

BRADFORD – A blockade set up by Attawapiskat protesters on a winter road to the De Beers mine on the coast of James Bay is a symptom of unmet social needs in First Nations communities, Ontario premier-designate Kathleen Wynne says.

“The economic development that can come from either the mine on the James Bay coast or from the Ring of Fire has to be seen in the context of the relationship between government and the First Nations communities,” Wynne said Wednesday. “There’s a whole range of social issues that are not necessarily directly related to economic development but as a government, and I would suggest the federal government as well… needs to in, my opinion, tackle that whole range of issues if we want to be able to move ahead and have those economic opportunities be fulfilled.”

Wynne said she’s unaware of the actual trigger for the blockade but knows the Attawapiskat community is concerned about a number of issues including lack of housing and the availability of clean water.

“It’s never okay in my opinion to take violent or obstructive action,” Wynne said. “We have to find resolution to those issues at the same time as … allowing economic development to go ahead because in the end, if there is no economic development, then a lot of those issues are not going to be resolved.”

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Theresa Spence’s hunger strike obscures the key First Nations issue: resource revenue sharing – by John Ivison (National Post – January 8, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

There is hope for the future of relations between natives and non-natives in Canada. It is embodied in leaders like Glen Nolan, a former Cree chief from Northern Ontario, who is the president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

He doesn’t support the Idle No More movement because he says he’s never been idle. “There are too many examples of [native] individuals and communities who have broken away from the notion that government is there to look out for them,” he said.

Attempting to get at the truth involves abandoning stereotypes and clichés. That is hard when the subject matter conforms to easily attached labels, like Theresa Spence, the chief of another Cree community in Attawapiskat, who points the finger of blame at Ottawa with one hand, while extending the other for more handouts.

It is a welcome reminder when more sober voices like Mr. Nolan point out that many First Nations reject dependency on transfers from the federal government.

Mr. Nolan, now an executive with a junior mining company developing nickel and copper in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, said his time as chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation north of Wawa was characterized by building strong support networks to encourage education, work and business creation.

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The real story behind Attawapiskat’s problems – by Thomas Walkom (Toronto Star – January 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.

Making sense of Attawapiskat is not easy. The James Bay native community is synonymous with poverty. But it sits next to a diamond mine. Its chief, Theresa Spence, has become famous across Canada because of the hunger strike she is waging on an island in the Ottawa River.

She insists she’ll only consume liquids until Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with her (which he has agreed to do). But what does Spence want from that meeting? This is less clear. She talks vaguely of a new relationship between aboriginal first nations and the federal government.

We now know, thanks to a detailed audit of Attawapiskat’s finances commissioned by Ottawa, that the first nation’s bookkeeping leaves much to be desired.

Auditors from Deloitte and Touche concluded that roughly 80 per cent of the detailed spending transactions they investigated came with little or no paperwork, making it unclear how the monies were spent.

Yet oddly enough, another auditing firm — this one based in Timmins — has regularly been okaying the band’s annual financial statements, all of which are available on the Attawapiskat website.

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