The federal government is injecting $5 million into an Indigenous-led plan to develop a mine near Great Bear Lake.
The money will be received by the Denendeh Exploration and Mining Company, or Demco, a 100-percent Dene-owned mining and exploration firm.
Demco was created a decade ago on behalf of Dene First Nations in the Northwest Territories, and is operated through Denendeh Investments to “explore, find and participate in the operation of mines on and off selected lands in settled land claim areas.”
Demco’s focus is its Camsell River property, a collection of former silver mines near the southeastern corner of Great Bear Lake.
“With new geology and techniques, what we found over our exploration period was we have an IOCG,” said Darrell Beaulieu, the president and chief executive of Denendeh Investments.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
IOCG stands for a deposit rich in iron oxide, copper and gold. The term “IOCG” is often used by exploration firms to denote an area they think could eventually become a major mine, with Australia’s Olympic Dam – which has operated since 1988 – a frequently cited example.
“They tend to be the biggest mines in the world,” said Beaulieu.
Michael McLeod, the NWT’s Liberal MP, called the venture “an innovative natural resource project that will have benefits for generations to come in the Northwest Territories” as he announced the funding on Wednesday.
The money, from a Natural Resources Canada program, is “a major step in the right direction,” Beaulieu said.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Not much progress at Camsell River has been publicly reported since Demco bought properties in the area from Fortune Minerals and other sources in 2013. Camsell River is in an isolated area of the NWT where significant infrastructure would need to be built for a mine to operate.
While $5 million remains a small sum in the grand scheme of mining and exploration – and certainly in terms of what it takes to open a mine comparable to Olympic Dam – Beaulieu said the money would pay for more analysis, engagement and one-to-one meetings with communities.
The funding will help Demco “get out in the field and try to delineate what’s actually there,” he said.
McLeod, in his speech announcing the money, called critical minerals a “generational economic opportunity.”
“There will be no energy transition, no clean economy, and no net-zero by 2050 without far more critical minerals,” he said.
Critics, though, have questioned whether the environmental risks of developing more mines are being overlooked in a bid to unlock what the federal government says is Canada’s critical minerals potential.
In a week where the NWT’s post-diamonds vision for its economy has been called into question, and with China’s investment in the territory’s critical minerals under scrutiny, Beaulieu said Wednesday’s announcement marked the Indigenous peoples of the North taking action.
“Why are we waiting for somebody to come and find something? A lot of the First Nations own the land now, they’ve got the rights to it. Why don’t we own it?” Beaulieu said.
“Mining companies? We can partner with them, we can hire them – engineers, etc – and develop it ourselves, and stimulate the Northwest Territories’ economy as Indigenous people.”
Correction: April 11, 2024 – 16:52 MT. This article initially stated the Demco bought properties in the Camsell River area from Fortune Minerals in 2013. That’s accurate, but it isn’t the full picture. Demco also acquired parcels from Cooper Minerals and other sources that go together to form the larger Camsell River project. The report has been updated to reflect that.
