The area has seen an incredible surge in mine exploration activity, with 4,000 claims staked in the past two years, alone, as part of an effort by over 35 companies to get in on the action before Ontario modernizes its antiquated mining laws.  Many of the claims are located on traditional native land, amid concerns that companies and the provincial government have not adequately consulted them, as required by law, before moving ahead with plans.

“Exploration on our traditional land is getting out of hand,” said Marten Falls First Nation Chief Elijah Moonias.  “Mineral Exploration companies are not respecting our interests.”

The "Ring of Fire" (red marker), within the relatively untouched northern boreal forest, is facing intense mineral exploration

Late in 2009, while many of its iron workers in Minnesota and Michigan were without work, Cliffs invested $800 million in an effort to open a new chromite deposit.  Chromium, when processed into ferrochrome, is used to make stainless steel.  Cliffs is the primary shareholder of KWG Resources, which owns Canada Chrome.  Cliffs also recently purchased Freewest Resources, another company active in the Ring of Fire, for roughly $225 million.

“My community members are not opposed to development but they need to be included in any development that’s in traditional territories,” Webequie First Nation chief Cornelius Wabaesse said. ” We have been on this land since time immemorial – we would like to be part of its benefits.”

Several companies, including Freewest Resources, are exploring 80 miles north of Marten Falls.  Freewest has reportedly found the largest chromite deposit in the world and is staking claims along a 220-mile corridor between McFauld’s Lake and the Town of Nakina where the company wants to build a controversial railway.  With little, if any, oversight, companies are illegally dumping waste in their frenzy to find new deposits.

“We are hearing reports of 200 fuel drums sinking into the wetlands because they were placed clumsily on bog mats,” Anna Baggio of CPAWS Wildlands League said. “Who will be responsible for cleaning up and restoring these lakes and wetlands?”

According to David Euler, from the group Ontario Nature, the northern boreal forest is “one of the last intact, original forests remaining on the planet,” with “none” of the projects requiring a full environmental assessment.  The Ring of Fire houses the headwaters of two major rivers that flow into James Bay and borders the Hudson Bay Lowlands, one of the world’s largest wetlands.

“The impact of mining activity in this region will have a legacy that will last hundreds of years into the future and there is the potential for irrevocable harm,” said Ramsey Hart, MiningWatch Canada’s program co-ordinator. “We have this opportunity, at this juncture, to do it right, with proper planning, environmental controls, and consent and accommodation of First Nations. This is an opportunity we can’t afford to lose.”

The controversial Cliffs Natural Resources was cited earlier this week for pollution at some of its facilities on Minnesota’s Iron Range that have been violating federal water pollution laws for years, without enforcement from environmental agencies that knew about the violations.  In 2008 Cliffs, which owns coal mining projects in West Virginia and Alabama, failed in an attempt to form a multi-billion dollar merger with Alpha Natural Resources, one of the largest producers of coal in the US.  Cliffs’ attempt coincided with production cuts at iron ore mines in Minnesota, while the company laid-off workers and cut production at the rest of its Minnesota and Michigan iron ore operations shortly after.

Globally, grassroots movements are underway demanding companies obtain “free, prior and informed consent” from local communities before state approval of exploration and mining permits.  The concept has proven to be a major threat to transnational mining companies that rely on government handouts of public land and access to private and indigenous land in order to operate.

Rather than obtain community consent and eliminate mine pollution in sensitive areas, the mining industry has responded with the Global Mining Initiative, originally introduced by Rio Tinto.  The GMI entails a massive global public relations effort to frame mining operations as synonymous with sustainable development.

John Bray, research head at Control Risks, the world’s largest corporate risk consultant, advises his clients that maintaining “dialogue” with the opposition ensures that ‘you win…If you meet a group that will not compromise, then you have a problem.’

In neighboring Ontario, indigenous First Nations and non-native private property owners are disregarding industry rhetoric while waging a successful battle to prevent uranium exploration and mining on indigenous, public and private land.

Not a Class Act

The Ontario Mining Act enables companies to secretly stake claims, drill and operate a mine on public and private land, as well as territory claimed by indigenous First Nations.  According to Mining Watch Canada, the “Act fails to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty rights and violates the established constitutional right of Indigenous peoples to consultation and accommodation prior to all government decisions that might affect their interests.”

Frontenac Ventures has been exploring for uranium on 30,000 acres of private land and land claimed by Algonquin First Nations, and has been vigorously opposed by the local indigenous and non-native population.  Their opposition has created an embarrassingly high-profile situation for the Ontario government.

“I Must Follow Algonquin Law”

From June to October, 2007, members of a non-native coalition joined a peaceful protest organized by the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and prevented Frontenac from drilling near Sharbot Lake.  Frontenac filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Algonquin nations and obtained court injunctions ordering protestors off the land.  Some protestors were arrested, although only native participants were charged.  Tribal leaders Paula Sherman and Bob Lovelace were fined and sentenced.  Local citizens and First Nation members continue to occupy the land.

Lovelace said, “I do not want my children and grandchildren to have to go through what we are going through….I want to obey Canadian law, but Algonquin law instructs me that I must preserve Creation.  I must follow Algonquin law.”

In a case similar to that of Bob Lovelace and Paula Sherman, in March, six leaders of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, were sentenced to six months prison time.  The “KI6” are opposing Platinex Inc.’s platinum project in northern Ontario.

Putting the Pressure on Parliament

Over 1,000 people gathered in front of Ontario’s parliament, in Toronto, May 26 and 27^th, for the “Gathering of Mother Earth’s Protectors.”

According to Barb Bradley, a UP citizen and organizer against sulfide mining who attended the rally in Toronto, “It was a well-organized, multicultural, and peaceful rally. This event exemplified the power of ordinary citizens confronting large mining corporations and corrupt governments. Kennecott cannot mine without our permission, but we must speak louder…silence and negotiation can be misinterpreted as implied consent.  If we make the issue hot enough, our government can’t ignore us any longer.”

Following the rally, the Ontario government dismissed charges against the KI6, sentencing them to time already-served.  Bob Lovelace, who began a water only hunger strike in mid-May, was also freed days following the rally, although he may soon serve further prison time for additional contempt charges related to the protest.

“Leave It In The Ground”

Citizens and First Nations across Canada are becoming increasingly active as they fight to preserve their land rights.  The governments of Nova Scotia and British Columbia have passed “moratoriums” on uranium mining and have demonstrated an unwillingness to approve unwise mine plans.  Recently Northgate Mineral’s open-pit copper and gold mine plan was rejected by the British Columbia government over concerns that, “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 operations cease.”

According to Mining Watch Canada’s Jamie Kneen, “The only thing that’s responsible to do with uranium is to leave it in the ground.”

Since opening its McArthur River uranium mine, in 1999, Cameco Corporation has been the world’s largest producer of uranium for use in power plants and weapons systems. While Canada supplies roughly 30% of the world’s uranium, McArthur provides 20% of the world’s supply and is the largest high-grade, underground uranium mine in the world.[1]

An April, 2003 cave-in and flood of radioactive water at McArthur stopped production for three months. Cameco admitted that consultant’s reports had warned of caving and flooding as the mine did not possess adequate water pumping and treatment capacity or proper contingency plans in the event of an accident. Cameco also conceded that their engineering used non-standard methodology and could not relate to standard industry practice.[2]

A Canadian Broadcasting Channel (CBC) report revealed that Cameco was expecting a flood months prior to the incident.  Following the accident, the company increased the allowable amount of radiation its workers could be exposed to. The report revealed that McArthur miners, working without ventilation equipment were exposed to high levels of radon during the containment and rebuilding of the mine because contaminated water was accidentally pumped into the clean water line.[3]

Cameco’s other Saskatchewan-based operations are at Rabbit Lake and Key Lake. Now mined-out, Key Lake is currently the world’s largest uranium milling facility, processing 18 million pounds of milled uranium oxide (U3O8) yearly that comes from the company’s McArthur River mine. While nearly exhausted of its uranium, Rabbit Lake will process uranium mined from the Cigar Lake Mine once that facility is operating.

Cigar Lake suffered its own setback, in October 2003, when that mine flooded. Cigar Lake is the world’s largest undeveloped underground uranium mine and was expected to begin supplying 1/6 of the world’s uranium by 2008. Production has been delayed at least a year.[4]

January 2007 uranium prices were ten times more than only six years ago, making even marginal deposits valuable. Uranium mining in Saskatchewan has proven particularly valuable as ore deposits can contain as much as 24% uranium. This, combined with a relative lack of local opposition and the isolation of the mines, allows Cameco to post massive profits even with a temporary closure of its operations.

Cameco has found there are other regions where the company can avoid using industry best practice. The company operates its Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgystan. The company dumps its cyanide-laced tailings on top of a glacier, untreated and unlined. In 1998 Cameco was responsible for a cyanide spill into the Kumtor River that killed at least two citizens and devastated the area’s Lake Issyk-Kul tourist industry.[5]

In 2003, a Cameco and Bitterroot Resources Ltd. option/joint venture agreement (JVA) began exploring 780 square miles of the Upper Peninsula for a high-grade uranium deposit, citing Kennecott Minerals’ success in locating its nickel/copper/PGE deposit (Eagle Project) as the impetus behind its accelerated exploration. Bitterroot notes that it has “completed 1,322 metres of core drilling in seven holes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.”[6] Bitterroot had previously been involved in a JVA with Kennecott Minerals in exploring for nickel, copper, platinum and palladium in the Upper Peninsula.[7]

On November 24, 2005, an RSB Logistics semi-truck wrecked on M-117, in Mackinaw County, Michigan. The truck was transporting low-level radioactive calcined mining materials for Cameco from Blind River, Ontario to Blanding, Utah.[8] The driver drove into the ditch while choking on a piece of beef jerky.[9] M-117 was closed to traffic between US-2 and M-28. A Cameco hazardous materials team unloaded the cargo. The Michigan State Police noted that the incident caused “no known health threat.”[10]

1 CBC News, “Fuel For Thought: Canada’s Uranium Boom,” January 22, 2007

2 Minewatch Canada. “Cameco Comes Under Fire for Mismanagement at McArthur River Uranium Mine.” June 21, 2004

3 Ibid

4 Cameco Corp., “Cameco Updates Progress on Cigar Lake Remediation,” Press Release, March 1, 2007

5 Feiler, Jozsef, “Kumtor, the Poisoned Gold,” in Heavy Footprint: The World Bank Group and the Environment in Europe and Central Asia, edited by Feiler, J. & Malbasic, J., CCE Bankwatch Network, Budapest, 2000 ; See also The Economist Intelligence Unit, Kyrgyzstan Country Profile 2000 and London & Mining and CANMET Mineral Science Laboratories, “The International Scientific Commission’s Assessment of the Impact of the Cyanide Spill at Barskoun, Kyrgyz Republic,” 1998

6 Bitterroot Resources Ltd., “Drilling Progress on Several Fronts,” Press Release, February 1, 2007

7 Bitterroot Resources Ltd., “Exploration Agreement Signed With Kennecott Exploration Company,” Press Release, July 9, 2001

8 News Staff, “In the Clear: ‘No Radiation Release’ in Garfield Twp. Truck Crash,” St. Ignace News, December 1, 2005

9 Pepin, John, “Accident Closes M-117,” Mining Journal, November 26, 2005

10 Michigan State Police, “Mackinaw Co., Garfield Tws. Hazardous Materials Hauler Vehicle Accident,” Press Release, November 25, 2005