Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.
A small northwestern Ontario First Nation community is threatening legal action against a Red Lake gold miner which is advancing a high-grade deposit toward an early 2014 startup.
Wabauskang First Nation Chief Leslie Cameron said negotiations for a benefits agreement are not going well between his community of 300 and Rubicon Minerals over its Phoenix Gold project.
The band has instructed its lawyers to file a lawsuit at the Ontario Superior Court opposing Rubicon’s project. While the band is frustrated with the pace of development by the Vancouver-based miner, it has an even bigger bone to pick with the federal and provincial governments.
In a Dec. 17 news release, the band said it has repeatedly reminded and complained to Queen’s Park and Ottawa of its “constitutional obligations to consult and accommodate,” with First Nations on mining and exploration projects. But the band said both levels of government have ignored them and foisted those duties onto the mining companies.