Mining in Remote Areas Issues and Impacts - MiningWatch Canada

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CommunityImpactsCompany pledges jobs38 for Natives (Globe & Mail,10/21/96, A1, A8)BHP recently signed an agreementwith the government of the NorthwestTerritories committing the company tohiring up to 2/3 of its diamond minework force from northern and aboriginalcommunities (at least half must be Native).As well, the company must reportregularly to the government onmeeting its commitments (on hiring,training and business opportunities).BHP has also agreed to pay airfare forshift workers from communities as faraway as the Arctic coast. In return, theterritorial government will provide acceleratedapprenticeship programs to helptradespeople take advantage of the project.Natives cry foul over39 jobs at mine (Daily CommercialNews,10/21/98, B1, B2)Aboriginal leaders fear their peopleare being pigeonholed in service andsecurity jobs at diamond mines in theNorthwest Territories. “We don’t wantjust truck-driving jobs,” said Bob Dowdall,executive director of the NorthSlave Metis Alliance.He said aboriginal people are not beingtrained for the highly skilled operationspositions.“Clearly we need a training plan,”agreed Bill Erasmus, national chief ofthe Dene First Nation.Falconbridge signs historicdeal with Inuit40(Montreal Gazette,03/01/95, B4)Falconbridge’s Raglan nickel mine willchange the landscape of an area ofnorthern Quebec forever with the constructionof 10 open-pit and undergroundmines, new roads, port and airportfacilities and residences.According to the company’s environmentalimpact statement, the project’simpacts include high-acid mine tailings,gas and smoke emissions, increasedairborne dust, use of ice-breakers andlarge tankers for transport and the disposalof effluent from sewage and mineoperations. Consequently, marineplankton, fish, caribou, fox and sealpopulations will be affected.In exchange for the rights to developand operate the project, Falconbridgewill pay $75 million in compensation tothe Inuit.The Inuit will get at least 150 of theCase study: Faro’s Economic RollercoasterIn 1969, Cyprus-Anvil Mining Corporation built the town of Faro to accommodateworkers for their lead-zinc mine, the second largest in North America.The 1970s and early 1980s were the boom years in Faro, when the town’s populationpeaked at over 2,100 and additional camp facilities were built to house the morethan 700 mine workers.In 1982, though, prices of lead and zinc fell sharply, and by June of that year, productionat the mine had come to a grinding halt. A planned three-week shutdown becameeight weeks and then 17. In September, the mine announced it would not beresuming operations that winter. The announcement caused a mass exodus of employeesand their families, and Faro’s population dropped to less than 900.In 1984, Cyprus-Anvil announced it was mothballing the mine. As a result, the populationplunged to 90, and Faro became a ghost town.In 1985, a new buyer, Curragh Resources, surfaced and Faro’s population boomedonce again. The mine operated until 1993, when lead-zinc prices plummeted, forcingCurragh to close the mine and seek protect ion from its creditors.In November 1994, another company, Anvil Range bought the mine.In February 1998, Anvil Range, like Curragh, sought protection from its creditors andthe mine went into receivership.Unless a new buyer is willing to assume the environmental liability associated withthe huge tailings pond and numerous acid-generating waste rock piles, the mine sitewill remain dormant. And with the mainstay of the town’s economy lost, the people ofFaro must find other means of generating income or else Faro will once again be not h-ing but a ghost town. (36)longer exist.(41)Another issue related to employmentis that even if jobs are available,the work might not be agreeableto members of the community.(31,39)At the Faro mine in the Yukon,“jobs at the mine were tried andquickly abandoned by most[aborginal] people as unattractive formany reasons, including scheduling,discrimination, and working conditions.Other types of employment,particularly seasonal and part-timework, were in demand.”(31)The Faro experience is not an isolatedcase. Susan Wismer writes thatwhile exploration work can be compatiblewith subsistence activities ofaboriginal people in the northern regionsof Canada, experience withjobs in the mines themselves hasbeen less favourable. “The nature ofthe work, its scheduling into shiftsthat are often at least two weeks inlength, the distance of mine sitesfrom home communities, and theneed for a consistent and reliableworkforce that does not take time offon a seasonal basis, creates a situationin which the benefits of employmentin the mines are often offset bythe costs of social and family disruptionand loss of opportunities to participateadequately in communitylife.”(43)Costs and BenefitsOne question that a lot of communitiesfacing mining developmentfind themselves asking is who reallyserves to benefit from this development,and who pays the costs?Environmental impacts oftentranslate into economic impacts, asresources previously used as a sourceof formal income or subsistence purposesare rendered unusable.12 MiningWatch Canada
In 1966, the Mt. WashingtonMine on Vancouver Island went intoreceivership after only two years ofoperation. Yet it left a leg acy of acidmine drainage and heavy metal pollutionthat continues to flow untreatedinto the Tsolum River. Theconcentration of copper, particularlyharmful to young salmon, has all butwiped out the once healthy salmonruns. It has been estimated that theloss of the salmon fishery costsnearby communities $2 million ayear. To date, the province has alreadyinvested $1 million in its attemptsto deal with the problem. Themost probable means of controllingthe AMD will cost taxpayers at leastan additional $6 million.(27)At Equity Silver mine in northernBC there is presently a system inplace that treats the acid minedrainage that continues to flow fromthe mine. If the treatment systemwere to fail for an extended period oftime, the AMD would cause the poisoningand eventual loss of all fish asfar as 215 km downstream. The resultantpotential loss of economicbenefits and employment from commercialand sports fisheries is estimatedto be in the range of $4.3 millionper year.(28,44).Negative impacts on humanhealth may result from mining operations,but it is difficult to attach adollar figure to those impacts.As Lloyd Tataryn writes, “the Indiansin the NWT have not been theprimary beneficiaries of the arseniccontaminatingindustries located inYellowknife. We feel it is unjust thatcompanies can make profits fromjeopardizing the health of the peoplewho have lived on the land sincetime immemorial.”(45)Community health impacts relatedto mining are addressed inmore detail in the next section of thiskit: Health and Safety.Social and CulturalImpactsThe social and cultural implicationsof mining developments are oftenbrushed under the rug in orderCase Study: Need for Targetted TrainingIn 1995, Falconbridge signed an “historic” agreement with the Inuit in northern Quebec.Among other things, the company agreed to provide at least 150 jobs and trainingfor the Inuit people at their Raglan nickel mine.(40)The company originally thought that within 10 years Inuit could comprise 90% ofthe workforce. However, three years after the agreement was signed, and afterspending $4 million on training, less than 25% of the workers are Inuit, (42) and thepercentage of Inuit employees at Raglan is not likely to rise in the next couple ofyears.To date, the training has concentrated on preparing workers for jobs as cooks,heavy equipment operators, mechanics and truck drivers. With the constructionphase over and production gearing up, there will not be many more jobs available tothe Inuit until they train and qualify for jobs in the mill or underground.“We should . . . make greater efforts to ensure that we target the occupations withthe greatest potential for employment,” said Jim Delaruier, Kativik School Board’s directorof vocational and adult education.And that’s what the Raglan Technical Committee on employment and training hasdecided to do. At the heart of their new strategy is a college-level program in mining,as well as on-the-job training at the mine.(42)CommunityImpacts800 jobs, and they will have a large rolein evaluation of the project's environmentalimpact.Neither boom nor bust:41the renewable resourceeconomy may be thebest long-term hope for nort h-ern communities (Alternatives,v.22(4), Oct/Nov. 1996, p. 18)Author Heather Myers, assistant professorin International Studies at theUniversity of Northern BC, argues thatnon-renewable resource industries havenot ensured adequate or stable employment,either for northern peoples or forimported workers. Furthermore, theyounger generation has not shown aclear preference for moving from theland into industry. In the pursuit ofappropriate northern development, renewableresources can offer the potentialfor income, while complementingcommunity lifestyles and values. Theycan be locally based, small-scale, flexible,renewable and true to indigenoustradition. While they will not provide atotal answer to northern development,employment or income needs, renewableresource-based ventures will satisfysome key needs and values.Training of Inuit stepped42up at Raglan mine(Nunatsiaq News, 04/23/98;http://www.nunatsiaq.com/nunavik/)Initial training concentrated on preparingworkers for jobs as cooks, heavyequipment operators, mechanics andtruck drivers. Now that that constructionphase is over and production isgearing up, the mine needs workers toexcavate and process the nickel ore;these are specialized trades that requireadditional training.Turnover last year at Raglan reached70 percent.The Nasty Game: how43 environmental assessmentis failing aboriginalcommunities in Canada’s north(Alternatives, 22(4), Oct/Nov, 1996.p. 12)This article is written by Susan Wismer,assistant professor in the Departmentof Environment and ResourceStudies at the University of Waterloo.In the article, Wismer writes that Env i-ronmental Assessment (EA) can andshould be an excellent process for determiningwhether or not the outcomesMining In Remote Areas: Issues and Impacts 13
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