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Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

Judge calls [DeBeers mine] blockade an act of extortion – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 21, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The ongoing blockade outside the Victor diamond mine is not an Aboriginal protest but an act of extortion, a Timmins Superior Court judge declared Wednesday.

Judge Robert Riopelle said the men who are spearheading the blockade are not fighting for constitutional rights, land claims, treaty issues or anything that would benefit the community of Attawapiskat.

These are “individuals with private financial interests, holding a large multinational corporation to ransom,” Judge Robert Riopelle. “It smells of coercion.” Riopelle felt there was sufficient basis for the Ontario Provincial Police to lay criminal charges against the six demonstrators who have prevented access to the mine site since Feb. 11.

The hearing on Wednesday was hastily called late Tuesday, at the request of De Beers Canada, as a followup the injunction order that was made on Friday. Its purpose was to provide direction on enforcing the order.

Riopelle had issued the order, demanding the barricades be removed from the ice road and prohibiting any further obstruction of access to the mine site by the demonstrators.

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Blockade protesters seek new agreement – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 20, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

ATTAWAPISKAT – The people behind the latest blockade on the ice road to Victor diamond mine are demanding Tony Guthrie, president of De Beers Canada, sign an agreement with the demonstrators.

However, a company spokesman said that is unlikely to happen. Tom Ormsby, director of external and corporate affairs, told The Daily Press the company already has dispute-settlement procedures in place and agreed to review with community members the benefit agreement package signed with the First Nation as recent as this past summer.

Ormsby said latest demand runs “contrary” to previous agreements they have made with the community. “This is a new set of requests that doesn’t align with what we’ve agreed to.”

The demonstrators are demanding the creation of a “joint dispute resolution committee” that would address issues such as employment and training, housing, and compensation for community members whose traplines are located near the mine site.

The demands were faxed to the company. The blockade, located at a turnoff about 100 kilometres from the Victor mine, remains in place despite the fact De Beers won a court injunction in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday prohibiting anyone from obstructing access to the south winter ice road leading to the mine site.

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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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Waiting game in Attawapiskat on the diamond mine ice road blockade – by Jorge Barrera (APTN National News – February 17, 2013)

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/

ATTAWAPISKAT–The diamond mine ice road blockade outside Attawapiskat continued into its eight day Sunday despite a sheriff planting an injunction notice in the snow at the site during the early morning hours.

The notice, which was stapled to a wooden stick, was thrown into the trees by Bruce Shisheesh, an evangelical minister who had initially withdrawn from the protest but returned to the site Sunday. De Beers obtained the injunction from an Ontario judge on Friday.

While community members travelled back and forth from the blockade site, bringing food and support, Attawapiskat band officials worked behind the scenes to bring an end to the protest which has severed De Beers’ time-sensitive overland supply route.

The mine relies on the ice road for fuel deliveries and the transport of machinery and replacement parts too heavy to fly in.

Attawapiskat community members have rallied around Rebecca Iahtail, 45, who was the last blockader standing following a band meeting on Friday. Iahtail says she is dying of cancer.

Iahtail’s decision to stay gave renewed life to the blockade which is on an intersection by the ice road leading to the De Beers Victor mine site which sits about 90 kilometres west of the community.

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Cree woman dying of cancer last one standing on Attawapiskat diamond mine blockade – by Jorge Barrera (APTN National News – February 16, 2013)

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/

ATTAWAPISKAT– Inside the wood stove-warmed canvas tent beside the barricades on the ice road leading to the De Beers diamond mine, Rebecca Iahtail says she’s dying from cancer. There are several women sitting around Iahtail, three men, including Iahtail’s partner Noah, at the tent’s entrance. The conversation is almost totally in Cree.

Spruce boughs and canvas are used as ground cover. Inside the tent a single candle burns next to an ashtray and an empty coffee cup. The flame glints softly off Iahtail’s glasses, her round face half shadow, half glow.

The wood stove pops and hisses. The tinny sound of a pop tune can be heard coming from the headphones of a teenage girl. It’s Friday night in Attawapiskat, day six of the blockade is about to come to an end.

Exhaust fumes, illuminated by headlights, float across the ice road. Tail lights streak through the darkness. A number of SUVs and pick-up trucks are buzzing between the barricades and the community, which is a couple of kilometres away.

The news that De Beers obtained a court injunction to break the blockade has triggered rumours of impending arrests by the OPP. Iahtail says she has colon cancer and was given three years left to live. A mother to an 11 year-old son who is in Moose Factory at a hockey tournament, Iahtail says her impending death is part of the reason why she’s decided to stay until the end.

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Second Debeers road blockade ongoing – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – Feburary 13, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The DeBeers winter road has been blocked twice over the past week, an ongoing blockade that began on Feb. 10 and another from Feb. 4-6. The first blockade was over employment rates among community members and the use of Attawapiskat’s traditional territory, while the second blockade was over a lack of compensation for the mine’s impacts to traplines.

“It’s the same issue as with (the first blockade),” said Danny Metatawabin, Attawapiskat’s impact benefit agreement coordinator, about the second blockade. “They have a trapline there along with the other family.”

Metatawabin said the issues would be sorted out at a Feb. 11 meeting with DeBeers representatives. “The mine manager is on his way tonight, so hopefully we’ll sort it out by tonight,” Metatawabin said on Feb. 11. “As per the agreement, the membership was supposed to have been informed that we we’re not supposed to be doing any blockades.”

Metatawabin said the blockades prevented the delivery of fuel to the DeBeers Victor mine. “It’s been mostly a mixed reaction (to the blockades)” Metatawabin said. “Had the community fully supported the blockade, I think we would have more people over there, but right now there’s just a skeleton number of people over there.”

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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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De Beers threatens legal action – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 14, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

ATTAWAPISKAT – De Beers officials are getting fed up with the repeated illegal blockades of the winter road leading to the Victor diamond mine.

Since the road opened 13 days ago, blockades have prevented supplies and equipment from being delivered for nine of those days. After resolving a blockade that began early last week, another one started up this week.

On Tuesday night, “representatives from De Beers Canada met with Attwapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence, in person, to deliver a formal letter to chief and council stating that is the community does not take immediate action to remove the current illegal blockade of the winter road leading to the De Beers Victor mine, we will pursue all options at our disposal, including legal action,” said Tom Ormsby, the company’s director of external and corporate affairs.

Ormsby said after meeting with the chief, De Beers officials went to the location of the blockade where they delivered a formal letter to those blocking the road, indicating the company’s intention to explore legal options. At last report, the blockade remains in place.

While the mine continues to operate at full capacity, Ormsby said there are economic implications to these disruptions that pose a serious threat to the future of the mine.

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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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New blockade on winter road to mine – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 11, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

ATTAWAPISKAT – Just days after reaching a settlement to end a blockade on the ice road in Attawapiskat, officials with De Beers Canada were contending with yet another small group of protesters who were blocking the way to the Victor diamond mine.

“We’ve got guys on the ground” who were meeting with the demonstrators, Tom Ormbsy, director of external and corporate affairs, told The Daily Press late Monday night.

The “core individuals” behind in the latest blockade were not among those involved in last week’s four-day demonstration, Ormsby said. According to information Ormsby received, the core participants were “two or three individuals who were possibly joined on the picket line by some family members.”

As was the case last week, Monday night’s blockade was preventing supplies from reaching the mine but not posing any interruption in its operation. The Victor mine had had to contend with demonstrations and blockades on the winter ice road from time over its five years of operation.

Ormsby said typically the demonstrators have very specific personal demands and their actions are generally not supported by the community at large.

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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 and diamonds – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 8, 2013)

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

SORTING out the situation confronting Attawapiskat First Nation and the nearby Victor diamond mine is difficult at best. On the surface, all should be well. Mine owner DeBeers Canada spends a considerable amount of money in the community of 1,900 people — $40 million in business contracts in 2012 alone, it says.

It contributes more through an impact development agreement it signed when the mine opened — which earned it Mining Magazine’s Mine of the Year award in 2009 — though it agreed not to divulge details and the band office won’t. The company gives Attawapiskat about $2 million a year for use of its traditional land. It also hires locally and provides various training programs. Up to 100 of the mine’s 500 employees are from Attawapiskat.

While an audit of the federal government’s $95-million transfer to the band found paperwork discrepancies, together with the money the mine pays and spends, the people of the First Nation would hardly seem to be short of money. Yet a group of residents have been blockading the road to the mine over vague allegations that the money is not getting to the community.

DeBeers developed a comprehensive policy on aboriginal involvement in its operations. On its website the company “acknowledges the status of aboriginal people of Canada and their constitutionally entrenched rights” and “will work to strike a balance between these considerations and other economic, social and environmental responsibilities.”

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Debeers road blockade ends – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – February 7, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The blockade of the road from Attawapiskat to the Debeers Canada diamond mine site is over. A small group of Attawapiskat community members blockaded the road on Feb. 4, calling on issues with the community’s agreement with the diamond company to be addressed. The blockade ended on the evening of Feb. 6.

Attawapiskat’s Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) coordinator Danny Metatawabin said the blockaders’ issues pertained to either problems with employment at the site or the use of their traditional territory.

The circumstances behind the end of the blockade is not known at this time. Earlier that afternoon, the First Nation leadership met with community members and Debeers officials in a public meeting. Metatawabin said the blockade began with four individuals before other community members joined in support.

He said the chief and council do not support the blockade, since the IBA the community signed with Debeers allowed the company to set up the Victor Mine, the winter road, and ensure that its trucks could move without interference on the road.

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