The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
The head of Noront Resources is appealing to the provincial government to allow it to begin work developing its Eagle’s Nest nickel mine in the Ring of Fire while a plan to share resources with First Nations over the long term is developed.
Alan Coutts wants the province to give Noront the environmental approval it needs to start on its mine and all-weather road while an “over-arching” framework agreement is being negotiated with First Nations about resource sharing and related issues.
Noront isn’t asking for special treatment, said its president and chief executive officer during a visit to Sudbury.
It just wants the province to approve Noront’s terms of reference for the environmental assessment it submitted 2 1/2 years ago so it can keep and attract investors, reach impact benefit agreements with three First Nations near Eagle’s Nest and start mining ore.
Coutts was in Sudbury at the invitation of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce Ring of Fire Task Force to talk about the status of Noront’s project, why it is stalled and what he believes must be done to move it forward.
Coutts’ message to the provincial government is his company could begin developing Eagle’s Nest following existing mining legislation, “and do it in the spirit of the framework agreement.”
The Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne is focused on developing a framework agreement to address how to develop resources in consultation with First Nations over the next 50-100 years, and that’s stalling his project now, he said.
Because that process has taken longer than expected, Coutts fears “by the time this thing is negotiated, there won’t be anyone left to build anything.”
Former Ontario New Democrat premier Bob Rae and former supreme court justice Frank Iacobucci set priorities for the framework agreement last summer, and they could guide Noront in its relations with First Nations.
The goals of the initial agreement are how to share resource revenue with first nations, how the province will support the health and well being of people near the Ring of Fire, how local communities can participate in the environmental assessment process and what infrastructure will be developed to develop the Ring of Fire.
Noront has been working with communities near Eagle’s Nest for seven years and has built good relationships with them, said Coutts. But it’s been impossible to reach firm agreements because they’re involved in the over-arching process and there is no incentive to reach an impact benefit agreement with Noront.
Noront’s goals are essentially the same as those outlined in the framework agreement, said Coutts — to seek input from communities for the environmental assessment, “create a lot of wealth and share it,” and for everyone to benefit from infrastructure that will be built for the Ring.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/01/18/noront-eager-to-mine-ring-of-fire-ore