Natives stop uranium drill program

A private uranium exploration company has launched a $77-million lawsuit against two First Nations groups that have set up a blockade on an exploration property in the Sharbot Lake area of eastern Ontario, preventing the company from beginning a diamond drill program.

Members from the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations have occupied Frontenac Ventures’ property since June 28.

On July 30, both groups faced off at the Ontario Civil Superior Court in Kingston, Ont. Frontenac’s first move was to ask for an injunction to get access to the property. But even if the company is granted an injunction, indications are the conflict will remain.

Doreen Davis, chief of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, says she will stay on the property until the government imposes a moratorium on mining — whether or not there’s an injunction.

“We will not allow the diamond drill at any cost,” Davis says. “It’s our responsibility to Mother Earth and the water.”

Davis says nobody looks at the whole picture when it comes to uranium mining and nuclear power. She fears the water quality in the region will be affected.

Frontenac president George White says many of the protesters are making “erroneous statements” about the impact that mining would have on the environment.

“We couldn’t possibly pollute anything that is already polluted,” White says.

Frontenac geologist Greg Lester says that the lake and river sediments are commonly 500 times the allowed concentration for uranium in drinking water according to Canadian government and World Health Organization standards. Drinking water should have no more than 0.02 parts per million uranium.

“More uranium minerals are exposed to water in situ than would be exposed post processing in a tailings pile,” Lester says. “This is not true to every uranium mine — it’s due to the type of rock mineralogy here.”

The Sharbot Lake area is a part of the Grenville geological province, and is characterized by a water-saturated shear zone. Lester says if there’s naturally occurring uranium in the rock, there’s uranium in the water.

The project is still very early stage, but Lester says indicators to date signal that the property could be economic to mine.

“But we can’t do that if we can’t explore the property,” Lester says.

White says anomalies from radiometric surveys indicate the area is home to the three largest anomalies in the country. White first staked the property in 1967, and held it for 20 years, and then began to re-stake it in 2004. Over the last two years, the company has spent about $1 million on exploration.

White says the government did not indicate there was a native claim on the land until recently.

The Algonquin of Ontario argue that they never gave up their rights through treaty or sold or lost their territory through war, and therefore claim that about 36,000 sq. km of land stretching from Algonquin Provincial Park to Ottawa and south to Bancroft and Sharbot Lake, is theirs.

Frontenac lawyer Neal Smitheman says that the lawsuit will continue even if the injunction is granted, but that the damages will be reduced.

He points out the junior exploration company can’t raise money if it isn’t exploring.

“Right now the company is sitting on its hands doing nothing, hemorrhaging money,” Smitheman says. “If we gain access to the property, we’ll be able to obtain more funding.”