Cree Seek No-mining Area In James Bay

Published by MAC on 2007-02-23
Source: The Gazette

Cree seek no-mining area in James Bay:

Preserve biodiversity, stop gold exploration

LYNN MOORE, The Gazette

23rd February 2007

The Wemindji Cree are seeking an immediate moratorium on mining activity in almost 4,800 square kilometres of their territory in the James Bay, a region where gold and diamond exploration is in high gear.

The Cree community, which has seen Hydro-Quebec projects and a major gold camp move into parts of its territory, has long been lobbying Quebec to protect the relatively unscathed Old Factory River and Poplar River watersheds.

But, even after a biodiversity reserve was formally requested in March, new mining claims were permitted in the heart of the proposed reserve, according to Rodney Mark, chief of the Cree Nation of Wemindji.

Yesterday, Mark signalled that any exploration activity within the proposed reserve will be viewed as an incursion.

"We will pursue any and all means possible to prevent mining activity in the (two) watersheds ... the majority of which lie in our Category II lands," said Mark in a letter dispatched to Economic Development Minister Claude Bechard and Natural Resources Minister Pierre Corbeil.

Under the James Bay agreement, the Cree have exclusive hunting rights on Category II lands, and development is subject to special restrictions.

"All river and lake systems in our territory larger than the Old Factory and Poplar river watersheds have already been taken for hydroelectric development. These last remaining larger watersheds are ecologically fundamental to the continuity of Cree hunting and hunting culture and could not be replaced," Mark said.

Citing support for the proposed reserve from the Grand Council of the Crees, Mark requested "on an urgent basis, an immediate moratorium on the registration" of mineral claims within the area and requested that current claims not be renewed.

And, "we must insist on all possible measures to restrict further disturbance" on sites subject to current claims, he said.

Among the companies and individuals that have claims within the proposed reserve are Exploration Azimut Inc., which last June announced the signing of a letter of intent with Cambior Inc. for its "Comptoir property."

According to the Cree, about 85 per cent of that property - comprised of 796 claims - lies within the proposed reserve.

Another company is Ressources Dianor Inc., a diamond-exploration company that, according to the Cree, has about 30 claims within the proposed reserve.

The Eleonore gold camp - which was at the heart of Goldcorp Inc.'s $500-million all-stock takeover of Virginia Gold Mines in 2005 - lies just outside the proposed reserve.

(Goldcorp president Ian Telfer described his new camp as located in the core of "one of the most promising new gold districts in North America.")

The Eleonore discovery, combined with Ashton Mining Canada Inc.'s discovery of diamond-rich kimberlite to the north, sent scores of prospectors into the region where other minerals like uranium are also being sought.

Mark, whose council has its own mineral-exploration firm, said that the Wemindji community is not anti-development. It recently entered into a "collaboration agreement" with Goldcorp.

"Cooperation with such projects makes sense only in a context of protecting the ecological and cultural integrity of crucial portions of our territory," Mark's letter said.

Colin Scott, of McGill University's anthropology department, is the head of a team of university researchers who have explored the area and helped the Cree determine the best region for a protected area, using Quebec's criteria as one measure.

"All in all, the area proposed for protected status is remarkably intact, both ecologically and in terms of the Cree traditional activities that depend on that ecology," the proposal for the biodiversity reserve said.

lmoore at thegazette.canwest.com © The Gazette (Montreal) 2007