Tse Keh Nay
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Photo copyright Patrice Halley
The Kemess South copper-gold mine lies in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Kemess South is the second-largest metal mine in British Columbia with annual production of 16.4 million tonnes of gold and copper concentrate and employs approximately 350 employees and contract workers. Current remaining reserves should be exhausted approximately by mid-2010. Northgate Minerals Corp., operator of the Kemess South Mine, wants to extend the life of this mine by developing a lower grade, higher sulfide copper-gold deposit about 3 miles north of its existing open-pit operation. This proposed Kemess North Gold-Copper expansion has the potential to extend the life of the mine by another 10 years.
Although extending the life of the mine may seem appealing, it is a disastrous possibility for the local indigenous groups and many other concerned citizens. Northgate Minerals proposes that the only economically viable option, and in fact their ONLY option to extend the mine, is to turn a local lake, Amazay (“Little Mother”, also known as Duncan Lake), into its tailings disposal area. The waste rock and tailings that will be produced as a result of extracting the low grade copper and gold will be acid-producing and the popular method for controlling this acid mine drainage (AMD) is to submerse the tailings under water to limit the amount of oxygen (one of the key ingredients for producing AMD) that reaches the rock. The company claims that this is the best and only scenario to protect the environment while expanding the life and employment of the current mine. However, despite these claims, the fact remains that turning the lake into a tailings waste area would destroy the natural ecosystem of the lake indefinitely and this choice to sacrifice a pristine, fish-bearing lake faces incredible opposition.
The Tsay Keh Dene, Takla Lake and Kwadacha First Nations, collectively called the Tse Keh Nay, and the Gitxsan house of Nii Kyap are leading the charge against the destruction of Amazay Lake. This lake is not just a small pond that won’t be missed by the local ecosystem. Amazay Lake is a deep, steep-sided, headwater-lake with a drainage area of about 15 square miles and an overall surface area of 88,440 acres. It drains into the Finlay River system, along which the community of Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene sits. Amazay Lake supports fish such as Dolly Varden char, Rainbow trout and mountain white fish and is part of a larger area that supports caribou, moose, grizzly bear, hoary marmot, wolverine and migratory birds. It is also an important hunting and gathering place for the local indigenous peoples, who are banding together to fight the mine expansion proposal.
The federal and provincial governments are conducting the mine expansion’s environmental assessment. The Tse Keh Nay have been actively involved “in protest” in this federal Joint Panel Review Environmental Assessment process and have been rallying broad support, such as that from the First Nations Summit (www.fns.bc.ca), Union of BC Indian Chiefs (www.ubcic.ca), MiningWatch Canada (www.miningwatch.ca), the David Suzuki Foundation(http://www.davidsuzuki.org/), and many others. Using Amazay Lake for tailings disposal would not only require a federal EA approval but also an amendment to Metal Mining Effluent Regulation under the federal Fisheries Act. Such amendments for industry to destroy this fresh water, fish-bearing lake for waste disposal is an issue of serious discontent for many (see http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/MMER for more details on this issue).
There are also many concerns with how the Amazay Lake area has been assessed for cultural use, occupation and intangible spiritual values. The company’s archaeology report missed culturally modified trees, traditional camping sites, spiritual and rite of passage sites, a gravesite and traditional trails. The Tse Keh Nay hired an independent archaeology team and in only 3 days, 8 new archaeology sites were identified. The Tse Keh Nay have continually pointed out that the process fails to meet legal requirements to consult and accommodate First Nations. In Canada, First Nations have unique rights to the land and in most of British Columbia, land treaties have not been settled. As a result, the land is at best, ‘in dispute’, and the federal and provincial governments have a fiduciary duty to justify any infringements on the First Nation’s lands, waters, rights and interests. This case is being watched closely by First Nations, the mining industry and the government as an important test of the relationship between these three groups.
The site of all the controversy is in an area already hammered by mining, despite First Nations use and occupation. Intense clear-cutting forestry activities, roads and mineral exploration and mine operations throughout the First Nation’s territory have threatened wildlife populations, creating an ever-increasingly importance on conservation and prevention of unsustainable practices like destroying Amazay. Yet mining exploration in the province is at an all time high. Land-use planning and cumulative impacts assessments for the area near the proposed Kemess North mine have not been thoroughly conducted nor involved the true experts of this landscape – the First Nations’ themselves.
The Williston reservoir, a large area of the Finlay River dammed in the 1960s for hydro electric production, destroyed a large portion of the Tse Keh Nay’s traditional territory, including campsites, reserves, burial sites, hunting and fishing areas, trails and spiritual sites. As a result of the reservoir, the lower half of the Finlay watershed is contaminated with toxic levels of mercury that prevent the Tse Keh Nay from eating the fish. Now the upper half of the watershed is threatened by the potential contamination from Kemess North.
The issue of destroying fish habitat for mining activity is unfortunately not an uncommon story these days. Although conservation groups recently won a Supreme Court challenge against using a freshwater lake for the tailings of the proposed Kensington Mine in Alaska, other projects remain embroiled in conflict. Northgate Minerals Corp. is managed by Hunter Dickinson Inc., the same team that oversees Northern Dynasty Inc., which proposes to develop the huge Pebble copper-gold deposit in Alaska. This part of Alaska sustains a multi-million dollar salmon industry and there is a growing strong opposition to the mining project that could adversely affect the natural ecosystems upon which thousands of people rely. Similar scenarios are being repeated across northern BC at the proposed Red Chris and Prosperity mining projects and many others across Canada.
The fight for Amazay continues. The federal EA process is ongoing and has even been extended to conduct an extra public hearing. For several years, in accordance with traditional customs, the Tse Keh Nay held a gathering at Amazay Lake, attracting people from all over BC, and they plan to bring people together again this August 20-24th for a full week of camping, ceremony and networking.
Quote: Grand Chief Gordon Pierre, presentation ‘under protest’ to the Kemess North Joint Federal-Provincial Review Panel Hearings, Smithers, May 2007
“I’d like to really stress the importance of our existence and how we relate to the land. Why’s it so important that Amazay Lake must not be destroyed at any cost. Number one, it’s against our laws and principles as Tse Keh Nay people, because we respect all living things. And water is one of the main source that provides a living existence for the human race. We honour the water. And so we ask the government, the federal government, the BC government, to do the same thing as we are doing, to protect the land for what it is, not only for us but for our future generation. People know that this world is – in some places, there’s major crisis in environment, in water, in the land, where the land can’t produce food or any water or any of that stuff anymore. Canada may be one of the last place where we have a vast amount of land and water at our disposal, and it’s time – may be a little late, but we should now be protecting those environment. Water is not a renewable resource. Once it’s destroyed, it’s destroyed. You cannot make it better or bring it back to life. With those thoughts in mind, I think everybody has a responsibility to protect what is there, not only for us now but for our future generation. “
For more information, go to: www.tsekehnay.net
http://www.straight.com/article/who-will-save-amazay
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/05/29/MiningHype/
