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MINING OUR RESOURCES
Discovery Air’s Great Slave Helicopters wins two-year Newmont Mining contract Duncastle signs exploration access agreement with First Nations Major agreement with the Innu Council of Pessamit for an important mining development Star-Orion South Diamond Project information gathering agreement reached with Red Earth Cree Nation Rainy River and Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat sign MOU Victoria Gold Corp. and Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation sign MOU on the Eagle Gold Project 3 sign resource sharing agreements Discovery Air’s Great Slave Helicopters wins two-year Newmont Mining contract Discovery Air Inc. is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Great Slave Helicopters (GSH), has been awarded a new two-year contract with Newmont Mining Corp./Hope Bay Mining Ltd. The contract, operated through GSH’s majority Inuit-owned joint-venture partner Kitikmeot Helicopters, covers this year’s five-month exploration program out of the Doris Camp as well as next year’s yet-to-be-determined program. During 2010 alone, the contract will result in a high-utilization commitment for at least four intermediate helicopters supporting exploratory drilling and crew movements. Gross revenue related to Year 1 of this contract is expected to be approximately $4 million. “Having also worked with Newmont on this project in 2009, this new contract clearly attests to GSH’s proven experience, company-wide commitment to safety, past performance and our ability to properly support an advanced exploration project of this scope,” said Jeff Denomme, President of GSH. “We look forward to continuing this relationship as Newmont works to refine its plans for developing a large-scale gold mine in the region.” Based in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Kitikmeot Helicopters was the first NTI-registered helicopter company in the Kitikmeot region. For almost 12 years Kitikmeot Helicopters has been a dependable leader in providing safe, customer-focused rotary-wing charter solutions anywhere around the region. “The future of this region of Nunavut is very promising thanks in part to the investment being made by Newmont Mining in the Hope Bay project,” said Bill Lyall, President of Kitikmeot Helicopters and a Nunavut Land Claims Beneficiary. “We are proud to have been selected to provide helicopter services during the next two years for a global mining leader like Newmont – a good corporate citizen which clearly understands the value of doing business with reliable, experienced Inuit-owned firms like Kitikmeot Helicopters.” For its part, Newmont Mining reported that contracting Inuit-owned, Kitikmeot-based firms that have a proven track record of safety and reliability is key to its plans at Hope Bay moving forward. “We are very pleased to see Kitikmeot Helicopters was again successful in the tendering process for our project as they have proven themselves over their six years of service at the site,” said Mike McCreadie, Logistics Manager Newmont Mining Corp./Hope Bay Mining Ltd. “As a company we want to ensure that the Hope Bay project leaves a lasting legacy in the region and that begins with utilizing the talent and expertise that exists among the established business community in the region and that certainly includes Kitikmeot Helicopters.” Great Slave Helicopters Ltd. has nine profitable, Aboriginal-owned joint-venture partnerships around the NWT and Nunavut, including Denendeh Helicopters, Dehcho Regional Helicopters, Akaitcho Helicopters, Sahtu Helicopters, Tlicho Helicopters, Kitikmeot Helicopters, Gwich’in Helicopters, Havgun Helicopters, and Kivalliq Aviation. Together these partnerships come together in the Northlinx network and allow all partners to benefit from pan-territorial mega-projects requiring helicopter services. Founded in 2004, Discovery Air Inc. is a specialty aviation services company operating across Canada and in select locations internationally. With 145 aircraft, it is one of the largest air operators in Canada, employing 450 flight crew, maintainers and support staff to deliver a variety of air transport and logistics solutions to a wide range of government and business customers. The company’s Government Services segment includes two subsidiaries: Top Aces Inc., which delivers airborne training and special mission services to the Canadian military; and Hicks & Lawrence, a primary supplier of airborne fire management services to the Ontario government and charter services to government agencies and corporate customers. The company’s Northern Services segment includes three subsidiaries: Great Slave Helicopters, the second-largest VFR helicopter operator in the country; Air Tindi, a fixed-wing aircraft charter provider primarily based in Northern Canada; and Discovery Mining Services, which constructs and rents all-weather exploration camps and provides expediting and logistical support services. Duncastle signs exploration access agreement with First Nations Duncastle Gold Corp. has reported that it has signed an access agreement with First Nations for 2010 exploration work on the western portion of its 100% owned Porphyry Creek project located 20 kilometres northwest of Smithers in northwest British Columbia. The agreement provides employment, training and business opportunities to First Nations and First Nations businesses in the western project area while granting Duncastle access for the proposed 2010 exploration program including airborne geophysics, ground exploration and potential drilling intended to advance the gold-copper porphyry potential of the property. The 2010 agreement is a continuation of the positive relationship Duncastle has built with the local community starting with early consultation before work commenced in 2008. With over 94 sq. km of mineral claims and numerous high-grade gold, silver and polymetallic showings and past workings around a 10-kilometer long magnetic high, the Porphyry Creek project makes a compelling porphyry target. Early modeling work by Duncastle has demonstrated zonation on the property consistent with porphyry models that will be targeted and investigated in the 2010 exploration program. Duncastle Gold Corp. is a Vancouver based gold exploration company with mineral claims covering or surrounding past producers in two historic BC districts. In Southeast BC Duncastle is targeting high-grade gold-silver-lead-zinc veins at the former Yankee-Dundee mine, 50 km from the smelter at Trail, BC. In Northwest BC the Company’s holdings cover a 10 km long magnetic anomaly, previous workings, and high-grade veins at its Porphyry Creek project. Duncastle has assembled contiguous claim blocks totaling more than 150 sq km in each of these two productive regions for gold and copper exploration. Major agreement with the Innu Council of Pessamit for an important mining development A major mining development will be achieved on the North Shore of Quebec through an unprecedented partnership established with the Innu Council of Pessamit. The agreement with mining companies Argex Silver Capital Inc. and St George Platinum Ltd., recognizes and takes into account the claims of the Innu of Pessamit as regards of their title and their Aboriginal rights. “Our title and our rights are not an obstacle to development. Instead, we now demonstrate our full commitment to contributing towards the development of the territory as long as it is done in an environmentally sustained fashion and respectufully of our Aboriginal rights,” said the Chief of the Innu Council of Pessamit, Raphael Picard. According to the agreement between the parties, Pessamit consents that Argex and St George will undertake a program of exploration on part of its ancestral territory (Lablache for Argex and a propriety group call Isoukustouc for St-Georges). An exclusive zone of 100 km of circonference will be place around the projects. In return, Argex and St George will grant a right of first participation to Pessamit in any development project executed in the territory. The exploration aims to identify deposits of titanium, iron and vanadium for Argex and platinum, palladium, rhodium, copper, nickel, cobalt and gold for St-Georges, on a territory of about 45 km(2) for Argex and 160 km(2) for St-Georges. After the exploration, the partners are considering an operating phase, which would create about 450 jobs, including over a hundred in the Innu community of Pessamit. Also planned are a titanium processing plant and a research center. “This partnership represents a unique opportunity for our community development and a concrete example of the important potential contribution of the Innu in the economic development of the North Shore. This type of agreement is the way to move forward toward our future,” concluded Chief Picard. The Innu Council of Pessamit is the political body that represents nearly 4,000 people in the community. The reserve is located on the north shore of St. Lawrence River, 54 kilometres southwest of Baie-Comeau and has an area of 25,242 ha. Star-Orion South Diamond Project information gathering agreement reached with Red Earth Cree Nation Eric Cline, Vice President Corporate Affairs of Shore Gold Inc., is pleased to announce that the company has reached agreement with the Red Earth Cree Nation to gather information on Aboriginal traditional land use and traditional knowledge in the Fort à la Corne (FALC) forest. This information is to be used in preparation of Shore’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Star-Orion South Diamond Project, which is located in the FALC forest some 60 kilometres east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Shore is in the process of preparing an EIS to submit to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and federal authorities, as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) required by provincial and federal legislation for proposed developments. The agreement with Red Earth, signed May 12, 2010 in Nipawin, follows similar agreements concluded earlier this year with Sturgeon Lake First Nation and Métis Nation – Saskatchewan Eastern Region II and Western Region II. Cline states, “We welcome the opportunity to gain insight from Red Earth along with the other Aboriginal parties we are working with. One objective of EIA is to understand the impact the Project may have on traditional uses or spiritual or cultural sites of importance to Aboriginal people who view the forest as part of their traditional territory. We respect and appreciate Aboriginal rights and the need to accurately inform government regulators about the impact Shore’s activities could have on the environment, including any impact on Aboriginal uses or sites. In addition, the gathering of such information can provide ways to mitigate or eliminate any adverse impacts of the Project.” Aboriginal parties have an interest in building a database of traditional knowledge to record the history of their activities in asserted traditional territories. One advantage of the information gathering process is to record the knowledge of Elders, for the benefit of First Nations and Métis people in the future. All information gathered will be the property of the Aboriginal party concerned, which retains intellectual property rights and control over distribution of the information. In addition to agreeing to a process for the gathering of information by consultants and community members selected by Red Earth, Shore has agreed to provide the First Nation with historical record reviews and archaeological and environmental studies conducted by consultants the Company has engaged. Shore is a Canadian based corporation engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties. By Shirley Collingridge When Vale (vah-lay) Inco began operating in Voisey’s Bay, Labrador in 2005, all they needed was a few good men to staff their operations. The company already held Impacts and Benefits Agreements with the Innu Nation and Labrador Inuit Association in a variety of areas including industrial and employment opportunities, education and training. Discovering Peter (Pete) Lyall at a local dimension stone quarry, the company quickly recognized his potential. Lyall had been at the granite quarry 14 years, was a respected supervisor and, as a member of the Labrador Inuit, he had local knowledge that would prove invaluable. In turn, Lyall recognized the company’s potential. He was attracted to Vale Inco’s principles, training opportunities, and solid financial package. A bonus tow working for this company would be that he could live in nearby Goose Bay with his family. He decided to accept the company’s offer. Lyall had already been trained in heavy equipment, crane operations and blasting. Now he would need specialized training for the company’s nickel operations. “This being a different type of operation from the quarry, they put me in a training position,” said Lyall. “They had a program set up for me where I started working in the pit as a driller on the drill crew with a progression plan in place for two years to move into this position. There are full time trainers.” Today Lyall is mines operations supervisor, with a crew of 10 to 12 working 12-hour shifts, rotating two weeks in and two weeks out. Lyall easily fit in to the new operations but soon found he was faced with an electronic challenge. “At first, computers weren’t exactly and are still not a big thing for me but with this job there are some things that have to be dealt with on computers,” he said. Lyall found his other functions easier to handle. One rotation you are on night shift, the next you are on day shift,” explained Lyall. “To start the day, I meet the off-coming supervisor to tour the pit to see what’s happened on the previous shift, have a planning meeting, then line up the crew for the day, setting up the day’s work schedule.” After four years in the nickel industry, says Lyall, the job holds few surprises. “It’s a small mine in relation to other mining operations,” he said. “Things are pretty much standard so you know the plan unless something breaks down. Then you just change your plan a bit.” His family would also have an adjustment to make – Lyall’s long absences. The quarry was in Nain where Lyall had lived most of his life; the Vale Inco site is a fly-in operation, an hour by twin engine from Goose Bay. The two weeks away from family would be difficult, but it also offered a major benefit: Lyall could enjoy two unbroken weeks of quality time with his wife and two teenaged children. In camp, Lyall is surrounded by a kind of extended family: the workforce is predominantly Inuit. “There are a lot of local people here,” he said. “There are also Innu people here too. It’s a mixed culture.” Paradoxically, one of the company perks also presents one of its major challenges. “To most people the biggest attraction here is the schedule – two weeks on, two weeks off,” said Lyall. “It gives people the opportunity to have spare time in all seasons of the year.” For many workers, however, the isolation can be daunting. “I guess the hardest thing is being away from home,” he added. “It takes getting used to.” he said. During those long stretches away, employees connect with their families by telephone and internet – tools which use products mined at their workplace. As to Lyall, he has adjusted to the routine – shift work, computers and all. “Right now, I am content here with what I am doing,” he said. “No plans for doing anything else.” As to the company, in Lyall Vale Inco clearly found one of the “few good men” it sought. s Rainy River and Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat sign MOU Rainy River Resources Ltd. and the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, as representative of Rainy River First Nations, Naicatchewenin First Nation, Mitaanjigamiing First Nation, Couchiching First Nation, Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation, Lac La Croix First Nation and Seine River First Nation, are pleased to announce that they have agreed in principle to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was formally executed at a signing ceremony May 13th. “This MOU symbolizes the strength and value of our partnership with Rainy River Resources,” commented Chief Jim Leonard, on behalf of the seven First Nations represented by the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat. “It allows us to participate in the project in an active and meaningful way, while at the same time acknowledging and respecting our cultural values and connection to the environment. The opportunities that will be realized from this partnership will benefit not only our community members, but the surrounding local communities as well.” Victoria Gold Corp. and Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation sign MOU on the Eagle Gold Project Victoria Gold Corp. and the Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation of Mayo, Yukon are pleased to announce that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the Eagle Gold Project. The MOU is an important first step towards the completion of a detailed agreement to address the socio-economic and impact benefits (IB) associated with mine construction and operation at Victoria’s Dublin Gulch gold property which contains the large Eagle Gold Deposit and other high-potential gold exploration targets in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Victoria and the Na-cho Nyak Dun anticipate signing the IB agreement by the end of 2010. The MOU was signed May 20th in Dawson City, Yukon by Chief Simon Mervyn and Victoria Executive Vice President and Director John McConnell. The Dublin Gulch property is located within the traditional lands of the Na-cho Nyak Dun and is approximately 85 kilometres northeast of the village of Mayo. Na-cho Nyak Dun is a self governing First Nation whose rights and privileges are entrenched in the Canadian Constitution through a land claims agreement which has a corresponding self-governing agreement. These documents were signed in 1995. “The First Nations people have used this area for millennia for traditional harvesting, however, we recognize that there are economic benefits in modern times that we can choose to participate in,” said Chief Mervyn. He added “We have had an Exploration Cooperation Agreement in place with Victoria since 2008 and are pleased to be moving forward with them through this MOU with an eye toward developing an IB agreement that will cover the development of the mine. “We are interested in progressive sustainable development with responsible partners, and anticipate Victoria meeting those responsibilities.” Mr. McConnell noted that Victoria has been active in the community of Mayo over the past year. “We have been getting to know the residents of Mayo, and we hope many will come to work with us in the future; we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship.” Mr. Chad Williams, President and CEO of Victoria said, “We are extremely pleased to enter into this MOU with the Na-cho Nyak Dun. It reflects our intent to construct and operate the Eagle Gold Mine at Dublin Gulch in a responsible manner.” 3 sign resource sharing agreements The BC government has signed the latest in a series of resource sharing agreements with First Nations – this one involving three bands in northeast BC known collectively as the Treaty 8 First Nations. Aboriginal Relations Minister George Abbott says the agreements will see the Doig River, West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations and the government consult and collaborate on land and resource use, including forestry and oil and gas. Under the agreements, the First Nations get a 17 million dollars to help participate in the local economy, plus annual revenue-sharing payments for 15 years up to as much as 10 million dollars a year. Prophet River First Nation Chief Lynette Tsakoza says the agreements will help Aboriginal people share in the economic wealth of their traditional territory. Wahgoshig First Nation and Detour Gold sign Agreement in Principle for completion of Impact Benefit Agreement Detour Gold Corporation is pleased to announce that the Wahgoshig First Nation (WFN) and Detour Gold have signed an Agreement in Principle (AIP) regarding the finalization of an Impact and Benefit Agreement (IBA). The AIP establishes commitments made by both parties regarding training and education, employment and business opportunities, and compensation, along with other initiatives to maximize opportunities and minimize environmental impacts arising from the construction and operation of the Detour Lake mine. The AIP will become an IBA after legal review and community ratification. Chief Babin of the WFN commented, “We are proud of our negotiators that have worked hard to develop a fair AIP that we can bring to our community for ratification. By honouring our relationship and working together for the betterment of both WFN and Detour Gold, the AIP falls in line with the vision and needs of both our community and Detour Gold. We are looking forward to our on-going partnership with Detour Gold.” Gerald Panneton, President and CEO of Detour Gold, said: “Since we acquired the Detour Lake project, we have been committed to working with Aboriginal communities. This agreement represents a major step in our continuing working relationship and we plan to build upon it to provide long-term benefits to the WFN. The development of the Detour Lake mine will provide positive economic and employment benefits to all the local communities in the region.” Both parties continue to work together to finalize WFN’s participation in the environmental assessment and permitting of the Detour Lake mine, which are both progressing well. |
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