A First Nation in Canada’s subarctic Northwest Territories has received C$1.5 million ($1.1 million) in federal funding to explore for elements on its traditional lands.
The Tłı̨chǫ own a 39,000-square-kilometer (15,000-square-mile) stretch of boreal forest and tundra. On March 3, they announced a three-year prospecting project with the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. Exploration will include aerial surveys, ground-based prospecting and geological data analysis.
“Tłı̨chǫ lands are home to world-class under-explored mineral potential, and mining is part of our vision for Tłı̨chǫ economic self-sufficiency,” Jackson Lafferty, grand chief of the Tłı̨chǫ government, said in a statement. “Our lands are open for exploration.”
Last year, the Tłı̨chǫ government signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian mining company Fortescue (ASX: FMG). Their goal is to assess the potential for lithium, cesium and tantalum.
The region is already home to large-scale diamond mines that are scheduled to close soon. Mining is Canada’s second-largest private-sector employer of Indigenous people, according to Indigenous Services Canada, a federal government department.
According to Jamie Kneen, a co-manager at national the watchdog organization Mining Watch Canada, in many similar cases Indigenous nations or governments are not in a genuine ownership position and can be used as framing to sidestep formal consent mechanisms.
He added that the deal behind this mining venture has not been made publicly available, so the exact terms of the agreement are not known.
Kneen also highlighted concerns over the environmental impacts of more industrial mining ventures in the region and the potential habitat loss for threatened species like wolverines (Gulo gulo). Critically endangered Bathurst caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus), are also vulnerable to disturbance; their population has declined from half a million in the 1980s to fewer than 4,000 adults today.
“The kind of destruction we’ve seen from mining in other parts of the country and in the north isn’t being curbed,” Kneen said. “It’s being accelerated. It’s a deep concern.”
In February, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government would bolster national mineral production to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains and meet its defense needs and those of its allies. The announcement comes amid rising geopolitical tensions following the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel.
At the same time, a C$375 million dollar ($272 million) conservation fund for 21 Indigenous partner governments was recently announced. Three Tłı̨chǫ protected areas spanning 22,565 km2 (8,712 mi2), nearly half their territory, were recognized as Indigenous protected areas in early March.
“It’s a balancing act,” Lafferty told Canadian investigative outlet The Narwhal. “We’re doing what we can to conserve and also develop.”
Banner image: The Diavik diamond mine in northwestern Canada. Image from Google Maps.
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