Beaver Creek: BC chief warns permits aren’t consent

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – A Kwagu’ł hereditary chief cautioned mining investors not to mistake government permits or mineral claims for his people’s consent, saying capital spent before engagement gives companies no entitlement to approval.

David Mungo Knox, whose hereditary name is Walas ’Namugwis, said some parts of Kwagu’ł territory on northern Vancouver Island may accommodate development, while sacred or culturally important places will not. Investors should understand the 1851 Douglas Treaty and the community’s land-use plan before committing money, he said, without naming a company or project.

“Do not mistake a meeting for agreement. Do not mistake consultation for consent,” Knox said in emailed comments ahead of a Sept. 23 panel at the Precious Metals Summit in Colorado. “And do not mistake a government permit, tenure, licence, mineral claim or approval for permission from our people. Money already spent does not create consent.”

Knox’s warning gave a sharper edge to a discussion a day earlier, where explorers argued that community relationships must become part of project due diligence before claims are staked or drilling begins. The panel’s business argument was clear: formal approvals won’t prevent opposition from delaying work, raising costs or eroding an asset’s value.

Early contact

Maven Exploration has incorporated community and Indigenous acceptance into its search for Canadian projects, CEO Beth Borody told the panel.

The private explorer has reviewed about 12 to 15 opportunities and rejected some near UNESCO heritage sites or where it believed First Nation consent wouldn’t be forthcoming.

“We are starting with people,” Borody said. “Where are the people? What do we need to know? What are the environmental impacts, and are there fatal flaws right off the bat?”

In one case, Maven found promising unstaked claims and contacted a member of the First Nation whose traditional territory covered them before taking any ground. Borody said she had repeatedly been advised to stake first in case someone else acquired the claims.

Instead, she told the First Nation about the ground and asked who Maven needed to consult. The representative fell silent before responding: “We have never had anyone come to us this early.”

The conversation helped Maven identify the appropriate leadership and land-management contacts, understand the Nation’s decision-making timetable and assess the project differently, Borody said.

“We’re not doing this unless you give us permission to do this,” she said.

That approach closely matches Knox’s warning to companies not to make shareholder promises before speaking with Kwagu’ł.

“There is a proper way to come into someone else’s home,” he said. “You do not walk through the door and start deciding what belongs to you. You knock. You introduce yourself. You sit down. You listen.”

Trust deficit

Allison Coppel, Maven’s chief sustainability officer and founder of community-relations consultancy Pacha Associates, said explorers often treat social risk as a later-stage permitting issue.

After reviewing projects presented at the summit, Coppel said all but four had technical reports that marked their section covering environmental studies, permitting and social or community impacts as not applicable.

She prefers “social acceptance” to “social licence” because a community relationship can’t be secured once and checked off a list. The goal isn’t necessarily enthusiastic support, she said, but enough trust for people to believe the company will listen and deal with them fairly.

Coppel said opposition often grows from resentment companies created unknowingly through poor communication, opaque decisions or inconsistent treatment. Benefits such as jobs won’t necessarily repair that loss of trust.

Her least-favoured approach is what she calls the “hope and pray strategy”: keeping a project quiet and talking to as few people as possible.

“I’ve seen it work until it doesn’t,” she said.

Costly silence

Metallic Minerals (TSXV: MMG; US-OTC: MMNGF) confronted that gap at its La Plata copper and precious-metals project in southwestern Colorado.

At a July 2024 meeting convened by the Mancos Conservation District, about 70 residents questioned the company about water plans and exploration that had been underway since 2019. External relations manager Bryan Eisenbraun said he left realizing La Plata was better known to its investors than its neighbours.

Metallic began meeting residents, attending community events and holding two open houses each year. It also created a project website and public information materials.

“Every time we hesitated to communicate, that was a mistake,” Eisenbraun said. “There is a vacuum of information about your projects out there, and that void will get filled with generally the worst-case scenario or, at a minimum, misinformation.”

By its third company-hosted meeting in Mancos this April, residents were asking detailed questions rather than challenging the project’s presence, he said. The relationships also became part of the asset’s value because any future developer would inherit a clearer path through the community.

Knox left room for development in Kwagu’ł territory, but not presumed access.

“Our door is open,” he said. “But there is a proper way to enter. And there are some doors that are not yours to open. Come and sit with us before you come for the land.”