Twitter

Mining Conflict and Opposition

Home And Native Land – by Cooper Langford (Financial Post Magazine – April 2012)

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

In many respects, the city of Kitimat is an iconic Canadian community. Situated in a wide, flat valley at the head of the Douglas Channel in northwestern B.C., it has, for the past 60 years, been home to one of the world’s great hydroelectric and aluminum smelting projects. A technological marvel when it was built by the Aluminum Company of Canada during the industrial boom that followed the Second World War, the project brought the modern world to a resource-rich wilderness and became the foundation of a prosperous frontier city.

More recent history, however, has been less kind to the Kitimat region. Technological advances mean the smelter, now owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto, no longer employs as many people as it once did. The businesses — methane, ammonia and paper — that followed it into the deep reaches of the province are no more. Kitimat is a community looking to re-stake its claim on the future. And there is a new prospect on the horizon: Calgary-based Enbridge has identified the community as the terminus for its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project to ship bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast and, potentially, new markets in Asia.

Northern Gateway — if it goes ahead — will be a groundbreaking project in its own right, a 21st century statement of Canada’s role as a global energy supplier. But getting to that point is far from certain. Whatever technological and business innovation it may represent, the pipeline has become the centre of an iconic debate.

Read more

[Miners Unite] Caught ‘off guard’ [by Treaty #3 exploration ban] – by Jodi Lundmark (tbnewswatch.com – April 9, 2012)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

A call to ban mining and exploration companies from Treaty 3 territories has caught members of Miners United off guard.

“I think there’s been some major misconceptions on what Miners United is trying to do and where it wants to go,” said Gary Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospector’s Association.

The group, made up of about 60 companies, is newly formed and Clark said they have only met twice so far. That includes a meeting held two weeks ago.

A March 27 report on the meeting by the Globe and Mail said the companies “shared concerns about the concessions and cash they say native bands expect from companies looking for minerals on Crown lands that are considered traditional aboriginal territory.”

The Grand Council of Treaty #3 issued a release on March 30 stating they strongly disagree with the tactics discussed at the Miners United forum.

Read more

[Northwestern Ontario] Treaty 3 bans 60 mining companies from territory – by Jon Thompson (Kenora Daily Miner and News – April 5, 2012)

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

A coalition of junior mining companies who observed “a revolt is taking place” with respect to First Nations consultation is no longer welcome in Treaty 3 traditional territory.

Representatives of Miners United spoke to the Globe and Mail last week, saying the 60-member organization was taking a “hard line” stance on consultation. They accused First Nations of demanding compensation rather than consultation and raising prices for junior companies to explore in their traditional territory.

“We disagree strongly with the hard-line tactics discussed at the Miners United forum,” said Treaty 3 Grand Chief Diane Kelly in a release. “In many instances, Treaty 3 communities have developed strong partnerships with mining companies because of the early commitment of companies to talk with us, build our capacity to understand the projects and the real impacts and potential benefits.”

Kelly called the Miners United statements “hurtful” and “full of stereotypes,” pointing out gold was an important part of negotiations leading up to signing Treaty 3. She argued Grand Council Treaty 3’s definition of consultation defines a constitutionally sound process and was clear Miners United’s member companies “will not be tolerated” in the territory.

Read more

GRAND COUNCIL TREATY #3 NEWS RELEASE: CONTROVERSIAL “MINERS UNITED” GROUP WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN TREATY #3 TERRITORY – TREATY #3 COMMUNITIES PROMMISED TO SHARE IN MINERAL WEALTH IN THEIR TERRITORY

Grand Council Treaty #3 – Office of the Ogichidaakwe

Kenora – March 30, 2012

News

Earlier this week, the Globe and Mail reported on a meeting of a group of junior mining companies who have met under the name “Miners United.”  In the March 27, 2012 newspaper account a “revolt” by the group was said to be happening because of First Nations’ requests for Resource Benefit Sharing, compensation for loss of Treaty Harvesting Areas, and capacity building.

“We agree that the Crown must do more than what is now being proposed within the Mining Act regime,” said Treaty #3 Ogichidaakwe (Grand Chief) Diane Kelly. In responding to the article, Kelly added, “we disagree strongly with the ‘hard-line’ tactics discussed at the Miners United forum.”

She added that the Grand Council Treaty #3 Chiefs-in-Assembly found the comments in the article to be totally unacceptable by depicting community leaders as greedy and money-hungry. “We see ourselves as protectors of the land,” she said.

In many instances, Treaty #3 communities have developed strong partnerships with mining companies because of the early commitment of companies to talk with us, build our capacity to understand the projects and the real impacts and potential benefits,” Kelly said.

Read more

Mining Now – Sit down together, show each other respect, and lets get things done – by James Murray (NetNewsLedger.com – March 30, 2012)

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – It could be suggested that instead of sitting down to work toward real solutions, the Ontario Government has established a platform for what might be a massive fight between junior mining companies and First Nations. Perhaps the epi-centre of that fight has already started in the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (KI).

The McGuinty Government has moved twice now to buy out mining companies, and has moved on its own from what the Chief of KI, Donny Morris is reporting, first to take out lands from mining exploration, and second in buying out the mining companies rather than open talks and sit down with all concerned parties and serve as a responsible government might do.

The solution offered by Minister Bartolucci in first taking all lands in the KI land claim out of contention for mining, and second in buying out the mining company sends the wrong messages to First Nations, miners, prospectors and investors.

Junior mining companies are banding together in a group called Miners United to start working together to oppose some of the efforts by First Nations on land claims. Some of the concerns being raised are because it appears that the McGuinty Government is more interested in the optics of looking good in Toronto rather than working to solve real problems.

Read more

Canadian junior miners claim ‘lack of industry support’ in disputes with First Nations – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 29, 2012)

www.mining.com

Cecilia Jamasmie is a news editor at MINING.com.

Canadian exploration companies feel their industry association doesn’t hear them, Neal Smitheman, a lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations, told CBC.
 
According to the attorney, the Prospectors and Developers Association tries, but fails to represent both parties. Smitheman represents a group of 60 junior companies, which call themselves “Miners United.”

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he told CBC.

The Globe and Mail reports this group got together at the recent PDAC, in Toronto, only days after the Ontario government withdrew from exploration all lands near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) community, 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The decision was in response to opposition by that band, which has opposed any mining activity on what they consider its traditional territory.

Read more

Ontario Government Misses Opportunity to Increase Revenues from Mining – Ramsay Hart (MiningWatch.ca – March 30, 2012)

http://www.miningwatch.ca/home

With an overwhelming emphasis on reducing expenditures, this week’s Ontario Budget misses an important opportunity to increase provincial revenues from the mining sector. When compared with other Canadian jurisdictions Ontario has the lowest corporate tax rate for mining and recoups the lowest share of the value of mineral production. The Drummond Report recommended removing the “Resource Credit” that lowers the corporate tax rates and reviewing the Ontario Mining Tax. Today’s budget does neither giving up hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue.
 
The Ontario Mining Tax is a royalty payable to Ontario on the profits of mining that is meant to compensate the province for the extraction and sale of publicly owned non-renewable resources. The tax rate is 10% of profits but “remote” mines only pay half that and also qualify for a 10 year tax holiday. The total revenue generated from the mining tax in 2010 was $82-million (Entrans 2011), on mineral production worth $5.58-billion (NRCan 2011) or 1.5% of the total value of production. The province also has a diamond royalty but the one operating diamond mine, Victor’s DeBeers Diamond mine has not yet had to pay it. Nor has DeBeers ever paid corporate taxes in Ontario. (See DeBeers’ Reports to Society)
 
If Ontario were to reform it’s Mining Tax to recoup on average a modest 5% of the gross value of mineral production there would be an increase in $200 / million a year based on 2010 production.

Read more

[Ontario First Nations] Bands stymie Ring of Fire plans – Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – April 1, 2012

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

IN their budgets this week Ontario and Ottawa placed much stock in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit here in Northern Ontario. The province is anxious for a big boost to an economy wasted by recession. The feds want business to drive the economy. Both singled out the Ring of Fire.

But all is not well in the northern mining patch. First nations are demanding consultation. A legal “duty to consult” has failed in most cases to facilitate successful conclusions to aboriginal claims. Government can’t seem to break the logjam and while some companies have successfully negotiated agreements with neighbouring first nations, others are stymied — and annoyed.

At the mining industry’s recent national conference in Toronto, a splinter group of some 60 junior companies called Miners United met. They are concerned about native demands for concessions and cash. Bands are charging for exploratory drilling and the price often tops $100,000. Junior firms say they cannot afford it.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: KI CALLS FOR RESUMPTION OF GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT TALKS

IMMEDIATE RELEASE       

 MARCH 29, 2012

KI is calling for resumption of government to government talks in the month of June in the wake of the Ontario buyout of God’s Lake Resources mining claims and leases in the KI sacred landscape at Sherman Lake.

“The decision is bittersweet,” said Chief Donny Morris.  “KI has a sacred duty under KI Law to assert its jurisdiction, care for the land and protect and honour sacred landscapes and graves of our ancestors.  That is why we went to jail in the past and that is why we will defend our lands in the future.” he said.

“KI is pleased that Ontario has acted to protect the KI sacred landscape but disappointed that GLR was able to apparently unjustly enrich themselves at the hands of tax payers,” said Chief Morris.

KI had warned Ontario officials that they were repeating mistakes made when taxpayers paid $5 million to mining exploration company Platinex in 2008 to buy out the company’s claims and leases following a dispute with KI over unwanted drilling and mining exploration.

Read more

Andrée Cazabon: A street kid turned filmmaker on a mission [Third World Canada – KI First Nation] – by Sarah Hampson (Globe and Mail – December 9, 2010)

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.

OTTAWA— “It’s annoying,” Andrée Cazabon says as she screws up her pretty face. “It happened almost 25 years ago. Isn’t someone allowed to move on?”

Her new, heart-wrenching film, Third World Canada, tells the story of eight children who are orphaned when three parents commit suicide in the fly-in native community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, or K.I. for short, in Northern Ontario. Such is the disturbing portrayal of the social and psychological fabric in the community that all the Canadian broadcasters Ms. Cazabon has approached have turned it down. One of the boys in the film regularly acts out his father’s hanging because he was locked in the room with him when he committed suicide. But she refuses to consider changing it.

Despite her fierce commitment to bringing awareness to the plight of aboriginal children – the film was screened at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa last week as a fundraising event that coincided with a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations – her own story as a former street kid is the one she is often asked about.

Read more

Ontario junior gets C$3.5m settlement to cede controversial claims – by Matthew Hill (MiningWeekly.com – March 30, 2012)

www.miningweekly.com
 
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Against a backdrop of simmering tensions between aboriginal communities and exploration companies in Ontario, the government announced on Thursday it reached a C$3.5-million settlement with God’s Lake Resources, whereby the company agreed to cede its claims over a contentious area.
 
The move evokes memories of the 2008 stand-off between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation north of Red Lake, government and a junior called Platinex, which saw the company receiving a similar $5-million payment.
 
“The government, it seems, has capitulated and has expropriated these claims and compensated God’s Lake for that,” Fasken Martineau DuMoulin lawyer Neal Smitheman said in an interview.
 
God’s Lake had bumped heads with the KI over its right to explore its exploration claim, located some 130 km north of the community.

Read more

God’s Lake vs KI conflict ends in $3.5 million payout – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 29, 2012)

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

The Ontario government has paid $3.5 million to buy out God’s Lake Resource’s controversial claims in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) territory.
 
The government announced its deal with the junior gold mining company on Mar. 29. Under terms of the settlement God’s Lake agreed to surrender its mining leases and claims.

The land in question was added to the more than 23,000 square kilometers that Ontario previously removed from development in the region. KI Chief Donny Morris said the announcement was good news for his First Nation.
 
“Now my question to the government is when do we sit down and discuss the real, tangible things,” Morris said. “Everybody thinks we’re anti-development, but we’re not. But we are signatory to the Treaty, and we want to have say over development.”

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Reaches Agreement With God’s Lake Resources

 McGuinty Government Balances Industry and Aboriginal Interests

NEWS

March 29, 2012

Ontario has reached an agreement with Toronto-based junior mineral exploration company God’s Lake Resources (GLR) to surrender its mining lease and claims near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation.

In keeping with the agreement, GLR has surrendered its mining lease and claims, north of Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The lands are now subject to the Province’s recent withdrawal from staking and mineral exploration in the area.

It was the ministry’s goal to see KI and GLR work together to build a positive relationship. This settlement responds to KI’s concerns, while allowing GLR to move forward with mineral exploration in other parts of the province in the future.

QUOTES

Read more

Junior miners seek their own voice – Jody Porter (CBC News – March 29, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2012/03/29/tby-miners-united.html
 
Exploration companies form new group to share concerns about First Nations

A lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations says some exploration companies feel they’re not being heard by their industry association.
 
Neal Smitheman said the Prospectors and Developers Association is trying, and sometimes failing, to represent both industry and First Nations.
 
Smitheman said that ignores the fact the two are often in conflict. Neal Smitheman, lawyer representing junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations.

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he said.

Read more

Junior mining firms in ‘revolt’ over native deals – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 28, 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.

On the sidelines of the mining industry’s massive annual conference in Toronto in early March, a group of disgruntled junior exploration companies held a private meeting.

Calling themselves Miners United, the ad-hoc group of about 60 small-firm executives shared concerns about the concessions and cash they say native bands expect from companies looking for minerals on Crown lands that are considered traditional aboriginal territory, where bands retain hunting and fishing rights. Scores of disputes between native groups and mining companies now end up in court.

A landmark 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision said the Crown has a “duty to consult” native bands about development on Crown land that is considered part of a band’s traditional territory. Courts have allowed governments to delegate part of this duty to resource companies, many of whom then negotiate agreements with native groups. But there is a growing backlash among junior miners about these agreements.

Read more