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.

To make matters worse, the company continues to lay off its Ontario employees.

Cameco has been exploring the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for uranium deposits.

Further information on Cameco’s inglorious track record around the globe can be found elswhere at Lake Superior Mining News.

The fly-in community has been utilizing civil disobedience tactics for a number of years after Platinex neglected to consult the KI regarding its intent to explore on a number of disputed mineral claims.  Despite court rulings against the company and strong local resistance, Platinex continues to attempt to exploit its mineral claims.

From the September 1  Canadian Globe and Mail:

Donny Morris, Chief of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation; Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In purely physical terms, it was a duel between a Beaver floatplane and a small aluminum skiff.

But the symbolic heft of the brief standoff on Nemeigusabins Lake last Wednesday was far greater.

In the boat sat a lone man, Donny Morris, chief of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, a fly-in community 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay that has vowed to stop a mining company drilling for platinum on their traditional lands.

Aboard the plane, representatives from the company, Toronto-based Platinex, were trying to land on a lake that abuts 221 mining claims it has in the area.

The plane swooped down several times, but the man steering the boat blocked their passage, and the plane finally buzzed off toward the horizon.

In February 2006, a small crowd of mostly children and elderly members from the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, (KI) or Big Trout Lake, First Nation peacefully blockaded a winter access road used by the Platinex mining company and decommissioned the company’s exploration camp, dismantling buildings and packing their drilling equipment.  In response to the blockade the drilling crew fled the area by plane. Despite offers to return the equipment to the company, Platinex did not contact KI for its equipment. Following this action, the KI chief sat at the site and protected the territory for about a month until it became apparent that Platinex wasn’t returning anytime soon.

Platinex has been attempting to explore platinum deposits on land claimed by KI.

KI has expressed concerns regarding mining operations since it submitted a Treaty Land Entitlement Claim to the provincial government in 2000. KI is a signatory to the James Bay Treaty with the Canadian government and maintains that the government inadequately assessed their original land claim, stripping the First Nation of approximately 200 square kilometers of treaty land.

While initially not opposed to Platinex’s activities, in 2001 KI Chief Donny Morris informed Platinex that, due to KI’s land claim application, the First Nation insisted upon a moratorium on mining activity until the negotiation and consultation process with the company and provincial government was completed. In 2005, after Platinex had neglected its legal obligation to consult and accommodate the First Nation, leaders from Ontario’s “Far North”, including KI, Muskrat Dam, Wapekeka, and Wawakapewin announced a moratorium on mining exploration that affirmed their “God given Right to continue our own way of life.”  Muskrat Chief Vernon Morris said, “The communities have provided a clear direction to governments and mining companies like De Beers, Kennecott, Platinex, and Superior Diamonds on this troublesome issue.”

Ultimately, Platinex sought an injunction against KI’s blockade and sued the First Nation for $10 billion in damages. KI estimated it would have taken them 200 years to pay such a fine.

In May 2006, the KI questioned the constitutionality of Ontario’s Mining Act in a Thunder Bay court case. Previous Canadian Supreme Court rulings require the government to consult and accommodate with First Nations prior to any resource development activity. KI spokesperson John Cutfeet expressed that “both Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Harper talk about enforcing the rule of law as First Peoples stand up for their land rights, rights that are entrenched in the Constitution, the highest law of the land….both governments, however, fail to enforce this Constitutional Law. Either they are selective in which laws they enforce, or they are intentionally ignoring Constitutional Law. In any case, it is not a flattering position for any government.”

Platinex lost the case, in July, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice deemed the KI’s winter blockade an “understandable” action. In August, Ontario’s Security Commission received a request to investigate whether the company ignored the province’s financial security legislation and policies by misleading investors in not fully disclosing its exploration activities. In it’s July ruling, the Superior Court, in Thunder Bay, noted that Platinex should have been aware of KI’s opposition to exploration activities since 2001, saying, “It is inconceivable that Platinex did not know that KI was strongly opposing any further drilling on the property. Platinex decided to gamble that KI would not try to stop them and essentially decided to try to steamroll over the KI community by moving in a drilling crew without notice.” In October, 2005, Platinex told investors, through the Toronto Stock exchange that KI had verbally consented” to exploration activities.

Despite court rulings and high court precedence, the Ontario government granted Platinex approval to begin drilling on KI’s traditional lands in October, 2007. KI, essentially bankrupted with legal fees, were told that, if they stopped Platinex’s exploration activities, they would be found in contempt of court.

In April and May of 2008, KI member Laura Calm Wind spoke in front of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and called for immediate UN intervention on behalf of the KI6. She argued that Canada, considered a champion of international human rights, violated the KI’s human rights and treaty rights by imprisoning their leaders for peacefully preventing Platinex from exploring on the KI’s territory. Calm Wind said that “the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the Indigenous rights of KI peoples, but Canada has rejected this declaration in order to suppress and deny our human rights….other legislation, such as the Indian Act and Ontario’s Mining Act, are also neglectful of Aboriginal rights….when we stand for our rights, our land and our future generations, we are treated like criminals.”

When council leaders again peacefully prevented Platinex from accessing its exploration sites, again, six KI members (known as the “KI6”) were arrested and jailed. Chief Donny Morris said, “Platinex seeks to jail our leaders and supporters and bankrupt our community….I’m prepared to go to jail for my belief in my land.” The KI6 served over two months of a six month sentence before the Ontario Court of Appeals  reduced their sentence to time served and ordered Platinex and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to cover the defendant’s legal costs.

Leaders of the Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations, in southern Ontario, have faced similar problems while opposing uranium exploration on their traditional territories. They have joined with private property owners, faith, environmental and social justice groups to call for a meaningful reform of Ontario’s outdated Mining Act. The Act, passed in 1873, allows individuals and companies to secretly stake claims, drill and operate a mine without landowner permission, on public and private land, as well as territory claimed by indigenous First Nations. Mining Watch Canada says 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.”

As the Upper Peninsula battles against a metallic sulfide mining district, citizens have turned to neighboring Wisconsin as an example of successful grassroots opposition to unsustainable mining.

Ironically, Kennecott has also found inspiration in Wisconsin. The company has showcased its now-closed Flambeau Mine in attempts to demonstrate that it is capable of operating a successful sulfide mine in the UP.

Kennecott, and the industry as a whole, has learned its lesson in losing to grassroots mining opponents in Wisconsin and around the world.

Kennecott’s Unfulfilled Obligations

In 2007, Kennecott attempted to obtain a Certificate of Completion for its reclamation activities at the Flambeau Mine site, in Rusk County. The Certificate does not address ground and surface water contamination and excludes from scrutiny the 32 acres that comprised the actual mine site.

In Rio Tinto’s March, 2008, “Review” Kennecott Eagle project manager, Jon Cherry, falsely claims that, in Wisconsin, the company “received a Certificate of Completion, which means that we’ve fulfilled all our obligations” at the Flambeau Mine.”

Although the mine has been closed for only 10 years, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and company monitoring of the Flambeau River shows levels of mine contaminants, including heavy metals, in sediment and crayfish to be 10 to 100 times higher than Kennecott’s independent data anticipated during the Flambeau Mine permit process.

Despite this evidence, Kennecott claims that “the River has been fully protected at every stage of the….Project….Testing shows conclusively ground water quality surrounding the site is as good as it was before mining.”

Although Kennecott’s application predicted that groundwater pollution from the backfilled pit would continue for roughly 4,000 years, the company maintains that a security bond of $12 million was “never intended to address groundwater or surface water contamination that may exist now or in the future.”

While Kennecott did secure state approval and bypassed obtaining the people’s consent to operate its Flambeau mine, citizens did delay the project for years and began a campaign, in 1993, to pass a moratorium on metallic sulfide mining in the state.

Tough Enough?

In 1998, under immense public pressure, the Wisconsin legislature passed the “Churchill” Moratorium bill, requiring that a mining company present an example of a metallic sulfide mine that has operated for 10 years without polluting surface or ground water from the mine or its tailings. It must also show a mine that has been closed for 10 years without polluting surface or ground water.

Although the Wisconsin DNR refused to write administrative rules, thus weakening the law, the state’s “moratorium” is considered the toughest metallic mining law in the nation and has, for a decade, kept Kennecott/Rio Tinto and other transnational mining companies out of operation in the state.

Mining giant BHP-Billiton, through its subsidiary Nicolet Minerals, attempted to bypass the moratorium by citing examples in Arizona, Canada and California. Located south of Crandon, the 55 million ton zinc, copper and lead deposit, first discovered by Exxon Minerals had been stalled by massive citizen opposition since 1976.

By April, 2003, as the examples proved unable to pass scrutiny under Wisconsin law, BHP sold Nicolet Minerals and its surface and mineral rights for the project to Northern Wisconsin Resource Group, a subsidiary of Nicolet Hardwood Corp.

On October 28, 2003, the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa and the Forest County Potawatomi tribes purchased Nicolet Minerals and the lands associated with the proposed project site, ending the 27 year fight between the citizens of Wisconsin and the world’s most powerful mining companies. Two days later, the DNR received a letter from the company announcing its intention to withdraw its permit applications:

“Given the number of sulfide mines that have caused catastrophic water pollution in North America and the lack of reliable data to suggest that modern sulfide mining technology has improved sufficiently to justify taking the risks that this project poses, it is doubtful that [Nicolet Minerals] could, in good faith, meet its burden of proof under the Wisconsin Mining Moratorium Law.”

Sticking it to the Locals

The law remains far stricter than Michigan’s new nonferrous mining laws. In early 2004, at the first public meeting to discuss creating a new law, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Deputy Director, Skip Pruss, instructed a group of mining company officials, lawyers, local authorities, tribes and environmental groups, that Wisconsin’s law would not be a valid topic of discussion. A law and rules were then created that would regulate metallic mining, rather than prevent its use in the state until it could be done safely.

The law stripped local townships of authority to reject or approve metallic mining plans, a tactic that had been highly successful in Wisconsin. The law also failed to include a requirement for mining companies to obtain free, prior and informed consent from the local community and completely disregarded native treaty rights when considering applications.

As in Wisconsin, a community in New York State utilized township zoning authority to stave off an unwanted rock mine, successfully stopping the mine from opening.

Zoning Power in New York

Citizens in Saugerties, New York, used the town’s 1989 zoning laws to prevent the opening of a rock mine within a residential district. The proposed mine, located near federally-recognized wetlands would have excavated roughly 2.8 million cubic yards of stone over a 28-year period and affected the local water table.

Gilbert Shott submitted a mining application to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The application was rejected twice as incomplete. Despite Schott’s faulty application, the DEC ruled that excavation of 1200 pallets of bluestone was not considered “mining” and could be performed without a permit. Shott was stopped twice from excavating stone without a permit.

When the town board upheld a restriction on mining in residential areas, Shott sued the town for enforcing its zoning laws.

After 5 state and federal lawsuits rejecting Shott’s legal claims, Gilbert Shott decided against appealing the decisions in State Supreme Court.

While mining projects have been stopped by communities wanting to protect their fresh water in Wisconsin and New York, other communities have had success in stalling projects. Citizen opposition to molybdenum mining, in Colorado, has been referred to as one of the ‘most effective grassroots environmental movements in the Rocky Mountains.’

Crested Butte’s Battle

The grassroots High Country Citizen’s Alliance and local business group, the Red Lady Coalition, have been fighting US Energy’s Lucky Jack sulfide mine project, on Mount Emmons, in Colorado. The project covers 5,400 acres in mineral claims and reportedly contains roughly 22 million tons of high-grade molybdenum and 220 tons of low-grade ore, making it one of the largest deposits of molybdenum in the world. Opponents have expressed concerns over the high potential for acid mine drainage.

Mt. Emmons has been home to mining operations in the past. An 1884 disaster claiming the lives of more than forty-four miners ended production at the Jokerville Coal Mine. Following exhaustion of anthracite coal at the Big Mine, in 1952, US Energy developed the Keystone Mine, on Mt. Emmons, in the 1960s, eventually selling the project to Amax. In the mid-1970s, four tailings ponds at the mine, which contained high concentrations of heavy metals, failed and drained into nearby Coal Creek. Crested Butte residents forced Amax, by then owned by Phelps-Dodge, to construct a water treatment plant and pay for operating expenses. Dissatisfied with costs associated with efforts to reclaim the tailings mess, the property reverted to US Energy, in 2006. In order to cover costs associated with treating water contamination from its old mining operation, the company is attempting to extract molybdenum from the mountain.

US Energy plans to mill its product on a 100-acre site, near the base of the mountain, using a process involving the use of sodium cyanide. The milled product would be transported through the town of Crested Butte. Mine tailings would be pumped, via a four-mile pipeline, and dumped near the headwaters of Ohio Creek at a 200-acre impoundment that would contain up to 200 feet of mine waste.

In March a Canadian mining company, Kobex Resources, withdrew from the joint venture project. Kobex was to operate and maintain up to a 65% interest in the mine. The company, which raised nearly $30 million to finance the operation, spent at least $8 million on rehabilitation of US Energy’s abandoned mine site and exploration.

In a press release, Kobex expressed that “the regulatory and legal uncertainties which currently exist at the Federal, State, County and Municipal levels, in the Company’s opinion, have become too great to justify the necessary time and major pre-development expenditures that are required to advance this property.”

US Energy, which claims it is entertaining bids for another joint venture from larger mining companies, remains committed to the project, and has hired Samuel Engineering to conduct a pre-feasibility study for the project.

A US Energy press release states, “This project has “world-class” potential, and [U.S. Energy] stands undeterred in its resolve to advance, permit and develop Lucky Jack into a premier primary molybdenum mine that the United States can be proud of.”

On May 14, Colorado’s Mined Reclamation Board rejected a review of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety’s decision to allow US Energy to construct an “exploratory” tunnel, referred to as a “drift” by the industry, on Mt. Emmons. The Board noted that, under current law, prospecting decisions cannot be appealed by the public or any state agency. Opponents maintain that the tunnel is not necessary for exploration purposes and should be considered an un-permitted mining activity, as the tunnel would likely serve as a ventilation shaft or access point for a potential mine. US Energy still needs approval from the town of Crested Butte and Gunnison County to begin construction of the tunnel.

The Red Lady Coalition announced, in March, that one of the world’s largest law firms, DLA Piper, agreed to take their case, pro bono. Also, a state law is being considered that would allow public a degree of access to mine prospecting information, while much information would still be considered proprietary. Currently, Colorado keeps all prospecting information secret. The new law would allow public comment and some evaluation of environmental damages associated with prospecting and exploration.

Some examples where mines have been halted or stopped

1. Esquel, Argentina: A recent Supreme Court decision in Argentina upheld the rights of provinces to locally regulate and restrict activities. Minera El Desquite, despite their public relations strategies, remains blocked by citizen-influenced Chubut laws prohibiting open pit metal mining and the use of cyanide.

2. Mendoza, Argentina: The province’s parliament voted to suspend open-pit metals mining indefinitely because the local government had failed to meet a 30-day deadline to draw up a plan to safeguard the environment from mining projects. The ban will last until an environmental plan is in place.

3. Cerro Quilish Mountain, Peru: However, when the Newmont Mining Corporation decided to expand their Yanacocha gold mine the Peruvian government ruled in the company’s favor and allowed Newmont to explore the mountain. Almost immediately after Newmont began drilling, on September 2, 2004, citizens organized to protest the desecration of their sacred mountain and strategically placed boulders and vehicles to blockade the Yanacocha Mine. Despite public outcry, Newmont kept the mining operations up and running; the company used helicopters to get workers to the mine site (Earth Island Institute, 2008). After two weeks, nearly 10,000 people gathered to protest the project (Earth Island Institute, 2008). On September 15, 2004 a regional strike and street demonstration caught the Peruvian government and Newmont’s attention. Newmont was forced to sign an accord and agreed to leave the sacred mountain.

4. Ottawa Valley/Kingston: A non-native coalition joined a peaceful protest that had been set up by the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation on June 28th, 2007. Tribal leaders Paula Sherman and Bob Lovelace were fined and sentenced. Lovelace is currently jailed. In February, the Ottawa city council passed a resolution (18-1) to urge Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, to temporarily ban uranium prospecting, exploration and mining in eastern Ontario and the Ottawa River watershed and to conduct a public review of the 1990 Ontario Mining Act.

5. Crandon, Wisconsin: A nearly 30-year battle to stop a proposed metallic sulfide mine, near the Mole Lake Reservation and on ceded territory lands, ended when the Mole Lake Chippewa bought the land and its mineral rights in November, 2006.

6. Costa Rica: The country outlawed all new open-pit mining operations, in 2002.

7. Rosia Montana: Gabriel Resources and the Government of Romania have attempted opening a cyanide gold mine that would affect ancient cemetaries and historical artifacts, as well as requiring an entire town to relocate. Recently, the Romanian Government re-enforced its position in support of a new law proposal to ban cyanide: “We have to say very clearly: if we start to close the existing mines and rehabilitate the affected areas then this will create many jobs in Romania and the Government supports this approach.” The licensing procedure for the project has been stopped for an unlimited period by the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development.

8. Irian Jaya (West Papua): Even with military opposition, residents have stopped production at the Rio Tinto/Freeport McMoRan Grasberg Mine, although the mine continues to operate. Rio Tinto is currently involved in a US lawsuit concerning the company’s participation with the Indonesia military in human rights abuses.

9. Northern British Columbia: Northgate Minerals has been obliged to withdraw consideration of expanding its Kerness South Mine, with another open-pit operation. In September, 2007 a joint federal and provincial environmental review panel said that, while the company met all necessary requirements to proceed, Northgate should not proceed with its project. The panel cited negative impacts on aboriginal peoples, lack of community support for the project, and a loss of the spiritually- valuable Duncan Lake, which would have been used to dispose of tailings. According to the panel, “The economic and social benefits provided by the project, on balance, are out weighed by the risks of significant adverse environmental, social and cultural effects, some of which may not emerge until many years after operations cease.”

10. Saugerties, New York: Beginning in 2001 and ending in November of 2004 an ambitious deep pocketed miner happened to choose a residential area in Saugerties to establish a bluestone mining operation to mine for 20 years or more. The community banded together and stopped the mine.