2006-09-24 14:40:00
VICTORIA (CP) – Mining companies and aboriginal nations across British Columbia are looking more like business partners than long-standing adversaries traditionally at home running bulldozers and setting up blockades.
Companies and aboriginals now appear more inclined to work together than fight, despite the recent arrest of a grandmother at a mine road blockade on the edge of the province’s Golden Triangle, the corner in northwestern B.C. at the Yukon border that’s of particular interest to mining companies.
The promises of profits, royalties and boardroom memberships have convinced many aboriginals to get in on the ground floor of huge proposed mine developments on land they consider sacred – and theirs.
"Initially they (mining companies) came saying they had nothing but the best intentions," says George Speck, the administrator of the Namgis First Nation at Alert Bay on the east coast of Vancouver Island.
"Of course, our experience in the past has been, ‘Oh, yes you’re carpet baggers coming in and wanting to pull the wool over our eyes,’ " he said.
"That was our attitude in the beginning."
But five years later, Vancouver-based Polaris Minerals Corp., reached an agreement with the Namgis and other area aboriginal nations for a huge sand and gravel operation with contracts to supply much of the ready-mix concrete materials to the California housing market.
Orca Sand and Gravel is expected to produce six million tonnes of sand and gravel annually. It is scheduled to start shipping to a port facility in San Francisco next year.
The Namgis First Nation negotiated a 12 per cent share of the project in exchange for allowing the company to open the huge pit on aboriginal land. Others in the area opted for royalty shares.
Speck was named the project’s chairman of the board.
Namgis Chief Wayne Cranmer said the project has already provided construction jobs for his people and the pit, with a life expectancy of up to 50 years, will provide further local jobs.
Polaris made itself well known to the band council and the community by making sure everybody was familiar with what the company was planning, he said.
Polaris virtually sealed the deal when it paid for an environmental impact study by an independent consultant chosen and hired by the band, Cranmer said.
"Marco Romero, the president of Polaris, he pretty well set the bar on consultations for this type of activity," said Cranmer.
Vancouver-based Nova Gold Resources Ltd., reached what it calls a landmark mining and heritage agreement last February with the Tahltan aboriginals.
Nova Gold’s Galore Creek project calls for an open pit copper mine, located about 150 kilometres northeast of Stewart, that expects to produce 5.9 billion tonnes of copper, 3.7 million ounces of gold and 40 million ounces of silver.
The mine is forecast to have a 20-year life span and the company estimates the project will pay back its capital investment within 5.2 years.
Galore Creek manager Carl Gagnier said the company consulted widely and extensively with the Tahltan prior to signing a cultural, environmental and social agreement with the aboriginals on Feb. 13, 2006.
The deal commits the company to funding a Tahltan-managed heritage fund that includes an annual $1 million contribution by Nova Gold. The company also agreed to give preferential treatment to Tahltan business, training and hiring.
"We recognized the first thing, no matter where you go or where you want to operate, you have to have agreement and a good relationship with the local people," said Gagnier. "This is the way you have to do business."
Nova Gold changed several of its original roadbuilding plans when the Tahltan said they would threaten local fish and wildlife. The current road proposal calls for construction of a four-kilometre long tunnel.
Vancouver’s bcMetals has run into problems with the Tahltan with its proposed RedChris open pit copper mine near the community of Iskut, about 25 kilometres south of Dease Lake.
Tahltan grandmother Lillian Moyer was arrested earlier this month at a blockade that attempted to stop mine exploration equipment from crossing a fish-bearing creek.
The company had a court injunction allowing the equipment to move, but area aboriginals vowed more disruptions despite the residents’ lengthy connections with mining.
Many Iskut residents work at the Barrick Gold mine at Eskay Creek, located about a two-and-a-half hour drive away from the community, said Iskut Chief Marie Quock.
But the bcMetals injunction and the company’s attempts to proceed with the project has disturbed local residents, she said.
"When you do something like that to people, it’s not the way to work with them," Quock said. "They have to realize that they are in our back yard. They still have to listen to what we have to say."
Many in Iskut feel the proposed site of the mine, about 18 kilometres from the community of about 400 people, is too close to their village, she said.
"When it’s that close to home, it’s scary," said Quock, citing fears that copper dust from the mine will lead to health problems among people and local wildlife.
She praised Moyer for risking arrest, but acknowledged there is support for the RedChris mine in her community.
A spokeswoman for an environmental lobby group probing mining developments and calling for sustainable energy practises says mining companies are being forced to clean up their act.
"In situations where companies know they are being watched by First Nations people or environmental groups, they are more inclined to do things responsibly," said Karen Campbell, a staff lawyer with the Pembina Institute.
She said she expects environmental groups to keep a close watch on mining proposals even if they appear to have aboriginal and public support.
"Environmental groups are going to be continually concerned about mining development until they are satisfied that it is going to be done in the most responsible way possible," Campbell said.
"Mining companies operate from lowest common denominator and bottomline financial approaches and until they are required to do more for communities, I don’t think that they will," she said.
B.C.’s Mining Minister Bill Bennett says he doesn’t expect environmental groups to support most mining projects.
But it’s up to the mining companies to show the public and government they offer viable and sustainable projects that will leave as little lasting impact on the environment as possible, he said.
"They have to earn their social licence and they do that by building relationships with local communities, by building relationships with First Nations and by showing from their operations and from their plans how they’re going to operate," Bennett said.
http://money.canoe.ca/News/Sectors/Mining/2006/09/24/1889545-cp.html