Charlie Mianscum gave the opening prayer that would precede the formal signing of the Troilus Mine Agreement between the Crees and Metall Mining Corporation on February 13.
As he led the prayer I noticed behind the principle signatories were some people not usually at such signings. They were tallymen from the land who would be affected by the mine—Alan Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Awashish, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Neeposh, Charlie Mianscum and two people who share a territory, Simion Petawabano and Edward Petawabano.
Chief William Mianscum of Mistissini, Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come and Wolf K. Seidler, the Vice-President of Metall Mining, signed the Troilus Mine Agreement The agreement was negotiated by Sam Etapp, Elijah Awashish, Dave Heritage and Robert Mainville.
Under the agreement, Mistissini will receive $1 million over 10 years. The open-pit Troilus mine will produce gold, silver and copper and will be located in the Troilus Lake Basin, about l00 km west of Mistissini. It has an expected lifespan of 14 years. Metall Mining, based in Toronto, plans to invest $150 million in the mine.
Chief Mianscum assured people who attended the signing that the Band Council spent two days going over the agreement with the trappers affected, making sure it was what they wanted. They would have a fund to start businesses and would have preferential status when submitting tenders for contracts from the mine.
Chief Mianscum also briefly explained what was being signed. “We’ve worked so many times in the past on economic development that hasn’t worked,” said “We needed to find some economic base. We looked around and said what do we have. We have trees, land, water and something that is very precious under the land. We lacked the expertise to get the things under the land so we entered into a co-operative venture.”
Chief Mianscum also commended Metall Mining, saying, “If I was an investor I would invest in a company that does these types of investments with Native communities. That’s what is going to help Canada grow.”
Wolf K. Seidler, who grew up in Val d’Or, expressed his happiness at being back in the countryside to sign Metall’s first new mining project in Canada.
Seidler said working with Native groups was nothing new to his company. He said his company is thrilled that Mistissini showed such an interest in the project and that the company intends to honour the agreement During the negotiations, Seidler said he liked the “honest forthright dialogue (with Cree negotiators). At the table we didn’t always see eye-to-eye but we brought different hopes and aspirations to the table.”
Grand Chief Coon Come said an agreement of this type wouldn’t have been possible 30 years ago. For a long time the government’s line was that Crees had no rights so mining companies just set up.
‘This is a step in the right direction,” he said. “We should be looking at the impacts on trappers and hunters. We should look at the impacts and monitor them. These people behind me are the trappers and hunters that’ll be affected. In their wisdom they looked at ways we can live together.”
The Grand Chief concluded by saying, “We can work together (Crees and developers). It doesn’t matter what the press or the government says. We aren’t anti-development”
