EXPLORATION ’95 — Mining companies forge alliances with

A trio of mining executives spent a day in January in the remote Yukon town of Ross River, partaking in a gift exchange and Kaska Indian stick gambling.

Ralph Sultan, William McKnight and Robert Granger of Anvil Range Mining (TSE) received beaver, lynx and wolf pelts from their hosts, while Chief Norman Sterriah received a gold-plated Winchester rifle. (Granger has since stepped down as CEO and director.)

It was all part of the signing ceremony for the socio-economic agreement between the Faro zinc-lead mine’s new owners and the 400-member Ross River Dena Council.

As Yukon land claims are finalized and native self-government approaches, more economic agreements between native people and mining companies are being negotiated.

“I think in the end it’s a win-win situation for both the companies and the First Nations,” said Jesse Duke, Yukon government mining facilitator. The Ross River-Anvil Range agreement includes $1,800 trapline supplement cheques each year during the mine’s life, for 14 elders whose traditional areas were displaced.

“I think the agreement itself is precedent-setting because it’s not on the reserve,” said Mike Rawlings, general manager of Ross River Dena Development Corp.

(Although Faro mining claims were staked legally, the Ontario court handling the Faro receivership ruled last year that the Faro mine affected the Ross River Dena. The court ordered the mine purchaser to negotiate a socio-economic agreement with the Ross River Dena.)

The deal specifically avoids employment quotas, Rawlings said, “because you’re doomed to failure.” The stress is on opportunities for band members who want to work, he said.

Anvil Range will offer employment, training, apprenticeships and scholarships, Rawlings said. The company promises to make contracts available, he said. Ross River, with Pacific Freight Systems, already has the fuel and freight contract.

Ross River Dena Development is working on another deal with Cominco (TSE) for its Kudz Ze Kayah polymetallic advanced-exploration project, according to Rawlings and Ron McLean, Cominco’s public affairs manager.

Cominco took some Ross River people to its Red Dog mine in Alaska, McLean said, to view the partnership with native groups there.

The Yukon government transferred $200,000 to Yukon College in December to fund entry-level mine training in the Yukon towns of Ross River, Carmacks, Mayo and Dawson City.

Cominco and the territorial department of education are funding a human resources skill inventory for the Ross River Dena to identify training gaps. The Carmacks Little Salmon First Nation is close to signing an economic development agreement with Western Copper Holdings (TSE) for its Carmacks copper project, exploration manager Ken McNaughton said from Vancouver. The project, a 50-50 joint venture with Thermal Exploration (ASE), is at the permitting and financing stage.

The company decided to be pro-active, McNaughton said. It began negotiations with the First Nation two years ago, when the project was at the drilling stage.

He said mining companies are doing themselves a favor by working with local communities, be they native or non-native. “As a mining company working in North America we simply cannot work in the dark,” McNaughton said. Paul Birckel, chief of the Champagne & Aishihik First Nation, said mining is a chance to put some of his people to work.

The Division Mountain coal and Killer gold properties of Cash Resources (VSE) are both in the band’s traditional area of the southern Yukon. Last summer the band backed a land use permit for Cash to walk a caterpillar on to the Killer Gold site.

The band is one of four in the Yukon which already has a land claim agreement; 10 other bands are still negotiating.

The federal government and the 14 First Nations mentioned above recently celebrated the proclamation of a land claim settlement that will give $242.6 million to 8,000 Indians during a 15-year period, as well as provide rental revenue from some non-renewable resources and ownership of 41,439 sq. km of ground. The settlement was 22 years in the making.

Elsewhere, negotiations are ongoing between Loki Gold (TSE), owners of the Brewery Creek gold deposit, and the Dawson First Nation, said Gary Wilson, the latter’s economic development officer.

— The author is a freelance writer who lives in Whitehorse, Yukon. The Northern Miner

Volume 81 Number 1

March 6, 1995

C SECTION — EXPLORATION ’95