Twitter

Mining Conflict and Opposition

Ecuador Indians march against mining on their lands – by Gonzalo Solano (Globe and Mail – March 23, 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.

QUITO— The Associated Press – The lands of the Shuar Indians in the Ecuadoran Amazon are rich in wildlife such as tapirs, toucans and red howler monkeys. They also hold treasures more coveted by outsiders: rich deposits of copper and other minerals that the government is eager to cash in on.
 
Projects to build open-pit mines that would rip into their forest-covered hills have spawned a protest movement that sets leaders of the ethnic group against the country’s popular president, Rafael Correa, who says development is essential to the future of this nation’s 14 million people.
 
More than 1,000 indigenous protesters reached Ecuador’s capital on Thursday after a two-week, 700-kilometre march from the Amazon to oppose plans for large-scale mining projects on their lands.

Read more

[Ontario] First Nations seek power in development – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – March 22, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper and Brian MacLeod is the managing editor. brian.macleod@sunmedia.ca

It was a brief release on the website of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. More telling, it was released on March 4 — a Sunday. It looks like the medium was the message. In this case, that message is trouble for the Liberals.

The release announced that 23,000 square kilometres of land in the northwestern corner of Ontario were being withdrawn from prospecting and mining to “give clarity to the province’s mineral exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question.”

That clarity was required after a showdown between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation and God’s Lake Resources, a junior exploration company. And KI won hands down.

Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci said KI “clearly isn’t ready to enter into an agreement … so we believe it was better for all concerned if we withdrew those lands.”

Read more

MEDIA RELEASE: First Nation and Conservation Groups Seek Investigation of Exploration Company God’s Lake Resources by Securities Regulator

For Immediate Release March 20, 2012

This joint media release was issued by: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninnuwug First Nation; MiningWatch Canada; Earthroots; Ecojustice and Wildlands League

TORONTO – Today four conservation groups have joined with the northern Ontario Oji-Cree community Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug or “KI” to request the Ontario Securities Commission investigate junior exploration company God’s Lake Resources (stock symbol GLR). KI and the groups are concerned that GLR may have made misleading statements in its public filings. The
company’s documents suggest the company was making progress towards an agreement with KI to allow exploration on leases and claims held by GLR and within KI’s traditional territory.

“Despite repeated correspondence from KI that it had placed a moratorium on all mining exploration in their homeland, from what we have reviewed, GLR has not yet communicated this risk to their investors” said Justin Duncan, staff lawyer at Ecojustice, “as a result, we have asked the Securities Commission to investigate whether GLR has violated the Ontario Securities Act.”

“The KI moratorium on mining exploration is no secret” said KI Chief Donny Morris. “We have said in writing, we have said on Youtube, we have said it on the radio and we have said from jail and we will say it again:

Read more

‘I see other people trying to tell us how to run our land’ [KI First Nation] – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 16, 2012)

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

KI lands and resource Stephen Chapman was a main speaker during the KI rally in Toronto, outside the Prospectors and Developers Association conference. He spoke to Wawatay News about his community’s struggle to protect its traditional lands from mining and on watching First Nations involvement in the Prospectors conference.
 
Wawatay (wwt): First off, why was it important to bring this message to Toronto?
 
Stephen Chapman (SC): Toronto is a big place. We want to spread the word as much as possible, to Ontario, Canada and all over the world.
 
Wwt: The last time you went through this there was a lot of support down here in Toronto. Does that make it easier this time?
 
SC: Yes. We made connections before, and our connections are growing. They support us and they spread the word.

Read more

KI rallies Toronto as chief mobilizes in North – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 14, 2012)

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

Inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on March 6, the bustle of thousands of mining executives drowned out nearly everything but talk of the benefits of mining.
 
Outside however, in the cold wind on Toronto’s Front Street, a very different message was on display.
 
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) councilor Cecilia Begg was telling the national media and everyone else who asked that yes, she was ready to be arrested again for protecting her community’s traditional lands.
 
KI lands and environment coordinator Stephen Chapman was at the microphone, speaking to the hundreds of KI supporters who had gathered in the cold to wave banners, shout slogans and demand that the government take KI’s concerns seriously.
 
“If the world is contaminated, where else can we move to?” Chapman asked, to cheers. “We need to realize now, before it is too late, that we are destroying ourselves and our future generations.”

Read more

Ontario scraps plans to expand mining in an old-growth area near Temagami – by Moira Welsh (Toronto Star – March 14, 2012)

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.

For the rest of this article, please go to the Toronto Star website: Ontario has scrapped plans to expand mining in an ecological gem that is home to North America’s largest stand of old-growth red pine trees near Temagami.
 
A Star story in December detailed the Ministry of Natural Resources’ proposal to change the “forest reserve” designation for 340 hectares around Wolf Lake — 50 kilometres from Temagami — to “general use,” which would have put a greater focus on mining instead of forests and recreation.
 
The ministry now says it won’t tamper with the government protections around Wolf Lake. “It was really about finding the appropriate balance,” Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle said in an interview Tuesday.
 
“We are always trying to find that balance between making sure we maintain the opportunity for economic development in northern Ontario while at the same time . . . we are very committed to the protection of our forests, particularly old-growth forests,” Gravelle said.

Read more

Making progress on mining issues in Ontario’s north – by Anna Baggio (CPAWs Wildlands League – March 8, 2012)

http://cpaws.org/

Anna Baggio is the Director Conservation Land Use Planning, CPAWs Wildlands League (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society)

This past week, Ontario made a historic announcement and protected over 2.3 million ha of native lands from staking and prospecting in the far north. This was in response to the long standing moratorium declared by Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI).  In its announcement, the government said it withdrew the lands “from prospecting and mining claim staking to give clarity to the province’s mineral exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question”. 

To give you a sense of the size of this area, picture not 1 Greenbelt or 2 Greenbelts around Metro Toronto, picture something bigger than 3 Greenbelts or more than 3 Algonquin Parks. The last time Ontario withdrew land on this scale was in 1999 during Lands for Life. The last time Ontario withdrew anything this size in one shot was in 1970 when they established Polar Bear Provincial Park. See the map here.

Read more

Foreign policy is mining policy – by Elizabeth Payne (Ottawa Citizen – March 8, 2012)

 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

Elizabeth Payne is a member of the Ottawa Citizen’s editorial board.

Six months after International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda announced CIDA would fund three controversial development partnerships between NGOs and Canadian mining companies, the federal government is laying the groundwork for more foreign aid to be delivered with the help of the mining industry. It’s a trend in international development that is raising new concerns.
 
“As I listen to this conversation … I sometimes think I’m at a business development meeting,” NDP MP Jinny Jogindera Sims said during recent Foreign Affairs and International Development committee hearings into the role of the private sector in achieving Canada’s international development interests.
 
“The purpose of … international development … aid is to reduce poverty. Yet a lot of the focus I’ve heard today has been on putting infrastructures in place or institutions in place that will help the mining companies.” Sims said she has concerns “about our aid being so closely tied to one particular industry.”

Read more

Land withdrawal does not quell First Nation dispute – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 6, 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.

Removing Crown land from mineral exploration does nothing to resolve a territorial dispute between a junior mining company and a remote First Nation community in northwestern Ontario, said the band chief.
 
Donny Morris fails to see how the provincial withdrawal of 23,181 square kilometres of land in the vicinity of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (K.I.) addresses their demand for a halt on gold exploration by God’s Lake Resources.
 
“This where we keep harping on the government, this is where consultation comes in, so where exactly are these lands that are withdrawn?” While the Ontario government heralded it as a step to addressing the impasse, Morris called it “a smokescreen” that sends out the wrong message.
 
The disputed area where the exploration firm is working is 83 kilometres north of the village of 1,300. One of the company’s claims are on the Morris family trap line, which is also considered a sacred birthplace and gravesite.

Read more

Bartolucci’s is to keep mine production in Ontario – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – March 7, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. mike.whitehouse@sunmedia.ca

The expectations First Nations groups have about the fabulous wealth the Ring of Fire represents are welcome, Ontario’s minister of Northern Development and Mines says. But the government’s focus, first and foremost, is keeping ferrochrome production in Ontario, Rick Bartolucci said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Chief Eli Moonias, of Marten Falls First Nation, and Chief Sonny Gagnon, of Aroland First Nation, outlined to the Ontario government their position on mining development in their territory. High among their expectations is that Ring of Fire minerals extracted within First Nation territories are processed and refined in those territories.

The Ring of Fire mineral deposit is located within First Nations homelands in Northern Ontario. There are more than 35,000 staked mining claims in the area, the majority in the Ring of Fire area, which holds chromite and precious minerals.

Read more

KI ‘wins’ in mining’s loss – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 7, 2012)

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

THERE is frustration bordering on resentment in today’s letter from geologist John Scott concerning the Ontario government’s withdrawal of 23,000 square kilometres of northern land from mining. Curiously, there is not a concurrent level of joy in the response of Donny Morris, chief of the area’s Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, who has been leading prolonged opposition to mining exploration anywhere near KI except on its terms, which remain elusive. Instead, Morris claims he was caught off-guard by Sunday’s announcement by Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci, though his office says it tried several times to make contact. Morris challenged the minister to visit the reserve to discuss the boundaries of the land.

 By Morris’ own count, his band and the province have been discussing the future of this land mass since 2001. There is a time for talking and a time for doing and it appears that Bartolucci has called Morris’ bluff. Unable to settle with KI on how to proceed, and facing mounting pressure from the mining industry for certainty on where it can look for minerals, Bartolucci withdrew this giant chunk of land “to give clarity to the province’s mining exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question.”

Read more

[Ontario] Gov’t fails mining – by John Scott (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 7, 2012)

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

John Scott is from the Thunder Bay Geological Services

Re Government Move Surprises KI; Huge Chunk of Land Near Reserve Off-limits to Mining — CJ, March 6:
 
Once again the Government of Ontario has failed the people of Ontario and has failed the only industry in the province that is still (?) viable enough the drag the province out of its economic tailspin. The problems with KI are not so great that Premier Dalton McGuinty has to use a club of this proportion to appease the handful, and it is a handful, of KI squeaky wheels.

While generally the area still has to be explored, we know enough of the area to indicate that the mineral potential is conducive to exploration. This is based on the magnetic characteristics of the rocks as well as the geology of the area. The potential for deposits of gold, base metals, copper, nickel and the platinum group metals to be found within the area withdrawn from staking is very high. The development of these Ontario resources would have benefited the entire province; now these potential resources have been removed from the economy of the province to the detriment of all.
 
What would the people living in the Toronto-centered area say if the government did not allow any exploration or development of any kind in an area equivalent to the KI withdrawal centered over Toronto?

Read more

A cautionary tale for the mining industry [Solid Gold Resources/Wahgoshig F.N. conflict] – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 7, 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.

David Babin, chief of the tiny Wahgoshig First Nation in Northern Ontario, was driving home from nearby Kirkland Lake during the spring thaw last year when he noticed the heavy equipment of a drilling crew, looking for gold in his people’s traditional lands.

It was the first Chief Babin had heard of the drilling. And it was the beginning of conflict that would end up in court, with an Ontario judge handing down a rare injunction earlier this year that suspended drilling on behalf of Solid Gold Resources Corp., a Thornhill, Ont.-based junior miner, and ordered consultations with the Wahgoshig.

“They didn’t understand first nation’s concerns,” Chief Babin said of the company in an interview. “Meanwhile, these guys kept on drilling, saying, ‘We’ve got the right to drill, and you can’t stop me.’ ”

Lawyers who work on these cases, representing both native bands and mining companies, say Solid Gold’s story is a cautionary tale for companies that fail to properly consult native communities that could be affected by their activities on Crown land.

Read more

Ontario to protect 23,000 square kilometers of native land from mining – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – March 6, 2012)

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.

In a surprise move, the province has protected 23,181 square kilometres of traditional First Nation land in northern Ontario away from mining firms.

The land in question is near the territory of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. God’s Lake Resources, a junior gold mining firm, has plans for a 3,000-metre drill program in the area.

This is not the first time KI has been in a dispute over land use. Four years ago, KI was embroiled in a long-standing conflict with Platinex, a Canadian exploration firm, who sued Ontario and the Cree First Nation because they said they were prevented from accessing their mining claims.

The province spent $5 million to settle the dispute.

Read more

Huge [Ontario] land withdrawal catches KI off guard – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 5, 2012)

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

The Ontario government says its recent land withdrawal near Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) will help avoid future disagreements like the ongoing conflict between God’s Lake Resources and KI.
 
The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines announced Mar. 4 that it has withdrawn 23,181 square kilometers “in the vicinity of KI” from prospecting and mine claim staking.
 
But KI Chief Donny Morris said the land withdrawal caught his community off guard, considering that negotiations between the First Nation and Ontario over land claims broke down months ago.

Read more