A closed chapter, is a closed chapter

Any thoughts of developing a mine site north of Prince George should be shelved forever.

That seems to be the impression that the Tse Keh Nay Chiefs are putting forward regarding the Kemess North project, which was not given approval by a joint federal/provincial panel earlier this fall.

The controversial nature of the mine and the fall out from the panel’s decision was examined in a front page story in Tuesday’s Daily News


CHIEFS WANT TO MAKE SURE MINE DOES NOT RESURFACE
Government urged not to breathe new life into Northwest B. C. mineral project
By Leanne Ritchie ,
The Daily News
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Pages one and three

The Tse Keh Nay Chiefs have asked the B.C. mining industry to stop trying to undermine the recommendation by a joint federal/environmental review panel not to proceed with a mine expansion north of Prince George.

They issued an open letter to the British Columbia Mining Industry, as represented by the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C. and the Mining Association of B.C., urging them to stop and retract the 'harmful campaign' to undermine the Kemess North Joint Review Panel's recommendation to the federal and provincial Ministers of the Environment that Northgate Minerals' proposed mine "not be approved".

The First Nations were responding to brochures and letters put out by the two groups, including one called Kemess North and the Road to Sustainability that was received by Prince Rupert City council.

The brochure notes that "it is extremely unlikely that this project will ever be developed if it does not get the green light relatively soon," and that the panel's "decision requires further examination".

Both the Hartley Bay Band council and Kitsumkalum Band council are among some 42 First Nations supporting the Tse Keh Nay Chiefs in their request.

“They all support our statement to industry that Amazay Lake must be protected because it is so tremendously important to us for spiritual, cultural and environmental reasons,” Grand Chief Gordon Pierre said.

“They also support our call to industry to stop its harmful campaign to undermine the review panel’s major recommendation to government.

“They recognize that the panel’s decision represents to us protection from the company’s terrible plan to destroy the lake,” he added.

The Kemess North project being proposed by Northgate Minerals includes the construction of a second open pit just north of the existing Kemess South mine, 425 kilometres northwest of Prince George.

The Kemess North project being proposed by Northgate Minerals was meant to increase the life of the operation of the Kemess mine for another decade, continuing 350 existing jobs.

The small nation opposes the project because it will use Amazay Lake as a tailings dump and in September the Joint Review Panel recommended the government not provided Northgate with approval for the project because “the economic and social benefits provided by the project, on balance, are outweighed by the risks of significant adverse environmental, social and cultural effects, some of which may not emerge until many years after mining operations cease.”

Since then, the company has shelved the project but it is seeking further clarification from government about its intentions, while mining associations have spoken about uncertainty the decision is causing in the industry.

”In our view the panel’s decision settled the Kemess North issue,” Pierre said.

The chiefs will be seeking confirmation from the provincial and federal governments that the mining industry’s campaign will not influence their decision on the project, expected in January.

“The Tse Keh Nay will continue to build relations with those exploration companies who approached us in a respectful way by recognizing our Aboriginal title and rights upfront,” Pierre said.“In light of the recent Tsilhqot’in title victory, Aboriginal title and rights is something both mining associations have to recognize as well.”

Kemess North mine no longer part of Northgate Mineral’s future

The controversial northern BC mining project at Kemess North, which had did not get a recommendation to go ahead from a provincial federal panel, will be taken off the Northgate Mineral’s planning pages.

Citing the negative reaction and uncertainty over the projects development Northgate has decided to take the 200 million dollar project off of its active file.

It was not an unexpected step, considering the backlash to the planned project in recent months.
The Daily News featured the details of the project’s status as the front page story in Tuesday’s paper.

MINE FIRM PUTS PLANS FOR BIG NORTHERN PROJECT ON SHELF
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Pages one and three

Northgate Minerals has taken its plans for the $200-million Kemess North mine in northern B.C. off its books, and will no longer treat the project as part of its future plans, said the company's CEO.

"Given the negative recommendation of the (federal, provincial environmental review) panel and tremendous uncertainty created, Northgate can no longer treat the Kemess North project as a core part of our business plan," said Ken Stowe, Northgate CEO.

In September, a joint federal, provincial environmental review panel said the company had met all the requirements of the federal and provincial governments to proceed with the mine.

However, it would not recommend proceeding with the mine because the impacts on aboriginal people - the unlikeliness of their communities embracing the project and benefits, and the loss of spiritual values of Duncan lake, which would be used to dispose of tailings - were a "significant drawback."

“The economic and social benefits provided by the project, on balance, are outweighed by the risks of significant adverse environmental, social and cultural effects, some of which may not emerge until many years after mining operations cease,” said the panel.

The project included constructing a second open pit mine just north of the existing Kemess South mine, 425 kilometres northwest of Prince George. It was meant to increased the life of the operation of the Kemess mine another decade, continuing 350 existing jobs.

“Northgate strongly disagrees with the panel’s decision and believes the project is engineered to world-class standards and could provide a tremendous economic benefit to British Columbia,” said Stowe.

He specifically noted the panel said it was satisfied with the mitigation measures planned by the company, both environmental and social, and that the science and engineering of the panel were of high order.

“This is a bar set so high that virtually all resource projects and operating mines, including those operating or under consideration in B. C. would find impossible to clear,” Stowe said.

“It is always difficult for a project proponent or supporter to deal with opposition based on spiritual or religious beliefs. These beliefs are inherently subjective and deeply personal. It is up to government to balance these beliefs against the economic and other benefits of development to determine what is in the best public interest.”

The company posted a loss of more than US$11.9 million for the third quarter after it booked a $32.3 million no-cash write-down of the carrying value of the Kemess North project.
The company has also stopped engineering, exploration and other work on the site and will look elsewhere for expansion.

Northgate’s principal assets are the Kemess South mine in North-central British Columbia and the Young-Davidson property in northern Ontario.

"A Premier in a pickle"

Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley seems to have perfectly described the situation that BC Premier Gordon Campbell finds himself in these days.

The Premier has been building up his environmental bona fides of late, with passionate speeches at the UBCM and a photo session with now Nobel Peace prize winner Al Gore, all part of his new found determination to protect the environment of "the best place on earth".

So it will be interesting to see how he handles the prospect of Northgate Minerals proposal to build the Kemess North project. That plan got a rather sudden jolt of reality recently when a joint provincial and federal environmental panel released a decision not to approve the Kemess mine.

A decision that has shocked the mining industry, which has been slowly rebuilding its presence in the province and an industry that has long been a supporter of the Liberal party and its candidates. While the mines proponents, Northgate Minerals haven't totally given up on the prospect of Kemess North, they seem a bit confused about where they stand on it now.

During the course of an event called the Denver Gold Forum, an exclusive by invitation only session which examines mining issues world wide. At the forum, Northgate Minerals CEO Ken Stowe expressed his concern over the BC environmental process and allegedly made remarks that have caused the local First Nations communities in the project area to express disappointment in his approach.

The controversial aspect of his speech apparently involved his questioning the spirit of the province's review forum participants in BC when asked about the review procedure in BC by a member of the Denver Forum audience.

The comments that have put him in hot water reportedly were: "There's things in there that went on the panel about people speaking to bears, so, it's pretty hard to talk science."

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Mr. Stowe's comments probably are not helpful to his cause or to a Premier, who one one hand is trying to rebuild bridges with First Nations communities across the province, nor does the mining strategy seem to twin with his Green agenda which seems to be one of his main concerns of late.

Where that leaves a traditional ally such as the mining sector is something that only the Premier's office knows, but as Mr. Cullen points out, it's a situation that certainly doesn't leave him with much wriggle room either way.

A complete look at "Mr. Campbell's pickle" was provided in Friday's Daily News as the front page story.

Campbell is facing tough choice over mine says MP
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, October 12, 2007
Pages one and three

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is literally caught between a rock and a hard place over the joint federal and provincial environmental panel's decision not to approve the Kemess mine in northern B.C., said Skeena Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen.

"B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is in a real pickle over this," said Cullen.

On one hand, Campbell is being pressured by the mining industry, which has strongly supported his Liberal party, and on the other hand Campbell is trying to build a new relationship with First Nations, said Cullen.

"When push comes to shove, I'm not sure which way the province is going to break on this," he said.

Northgate Minerals was proposing to build the Kemess North project, a second open pit, would have extended the life of the existing Kemess South project, 425 kilometres northwest of Prince George, by another decade.

However, the environmental review panel recently released a decision saying the mine's benefits did not outweigh long-term concerns.

First Nations in the region - including Takla Lake, Tsay Keh Dene and Kwadacha - were opposed to the use of Duncan Lake, called Amazay in their language, to dump mine waste.

Northgate said it was the best environmental option, and the only economically viable one: $200 million versus the next best option at $1 billion.

Since then, Northgate Minerals CEO Ken Stowe said he is concerned First Nations have won a "veto" over mining projects in British Columbia.

"I think this project, in a way, has been sacrificed on the alter of unresolved land claims in British Columbia," said Stowe, in the company's first public airing of its reaction to the panel's rejection.

Stowe called the panel decision unfortunate and illogical, while speaking at the Denver Gold Forum in Denver, Colo., an invitation-only event that attracts major global fund and portfolio managers, institutional investors and analysts.

The panel's rejection is considered rare - Stowe said the federal-level rejection was a first - as most provincial and federal environmental review processes give the greenlight to resource developments, although sometimes with conditions.

Cullen said the province has indicated that it does not this as a dead project just yet.

"What they would have to do is override the environmental assessment panel. That's pretty serious and the story's not over," Cullen added.

Stowe also made a number of comments at the mining event that have sparked ire among northern First Nations.

Stowe's view was that the project was essentially rejected for two reasons: The panel had no idea what would happen 10,000 years from now (which was true for probably anything in life, he noted), and that some people had said Duncan Lake had spiritual value.

"There's things in there that went on the panel about people speaking to bears, so, it's pretty hard to talk science," he said in response to a question from the audience.

Questioned following his presentation about whether Northgate had any legal recourse, Stowe said the company was not going to spend millions of shareholder dollars fighting "the unwinnable fight".

"We'll wait to hear what the governments say before we decide anything," he added.

With files from the Prince George Citizen.