By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star

Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:18:14 EDT AM

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2012/10/25/natives-work-with-cliffs

Members of Wahnapitae First Nation regard plans by Cliffs Natural Resources to build a chromite smelter just 20 kilo-metres from their border as an opportunity.

But the president of the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, a Wahnapitae First Nation member, says they also view the plant as a threat.

That's why the First Nation, and the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, are working with Cliffs on a baseline environmental review of the project, getting involved on the ground floor.

Hans Matthews has been a member of his First Nation's Mining Industry Working Group for a decade and president since the beginning of the association, which will mark its 20th anniversary with a conference in Toronto next month.

Headquartered in Wahnapitae First Nation, Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association drew a handful of guests to its first annual convention. Eight hundred delegates are expected to attend this year's event, cochaired by Matthews and Bill Boor, Cliffs' senior vice-president of global ferroalloys.

The theme is Community Gems, Faceted Outcomes: Maximizing Community and Minerals Industry Resources to the Benefit of All.

Matthews made it clear this week that Wahnapitae First Nation hasn't given its seal of approval to Cliffs' plan to build a $1.8-billion processing plant next door at the former Moose Mountain Mine site, north of Capreol.

Members are getting as informed and involved as they can before deciding anything.

"We don't want to be at the tail end of the research," Matthews said in an interview this week. "We want to be at the front end of the research."

In no way, said Matthews, has his community "indicated our support for the project until we both walk down the path together and review it."

Wahnapitae First Nation has taken that approach of working with industry since it signed its first agreement with the former Inco Ltd. in 1995.

"Without being informed, you cannot make a decision, and that's the premise we're working on right now."

Cliffs is bringing some expertise to the project and the environmental assessment, but his First Nation also has expertise in mining and its effect on the environment.

Members are looking to be involved in the "actual designing of the project."

He and others are reviewing other baseline studies such as those con-d ucted for ferrochrome processing plants in Finland and South Africa.

The project that most closely resembles the one planned near Capreol is the Outokumpu chrome plant in Tornio, Finland.

Like the one to be built at Moose Mountain Mine, it is located in a boreal forest similar to ours.

Wahnapitae members are looking at novel approaches to conducting a basement environmental assessment, said Matthews, such as measuring baseline particulate in snowfall and in the downstream plume of any processing plant.

They are also looking at tree bark for those baselines.

The technology is improving for processing chromite, and his group is ke eping a close eye on any issues developing near Tornio, said Matthews.

"Whether the project makes money or not is the company's management issue or operational issue," he said.

"What we are concerned with is if a project could have an impact on the environment, then we want to make sure that, No. 1, those impacts are avoided and, No. 2, they're mitigated with our input."

Unlike some First Nations, Matthews said Wahnapitae isn't concerned with the legal framework of environmental consultations.

"We believe we are in an engagement process as it is, because we're protecting our own interest."

Wahnapitae First Nation has agreements with other mining companies such as Xstrata Nickel, KGHM International Inc., True Claim and others. As a result, unemployment there is below 10%.

"It's unusual. It's very unusual," said Matthews, "and so we're trying to encourage two levels of involvement of the community."

The first is having input into the environmental aspects of the project. The second is developing business and employment opportunities for members.

Matthews and CAMA believe in working with industry to help its leaders understand the objectives of their first communities.

"The Cliffs project is quite new to us, so we are keen to understand the project environment, understand the extent of the project and its impacts, and to work jointly with the company to pursue benefits meeting the needs of each of us," said Matthews.

"That can only be done in stages, starting with work on the environmental assessment."

carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca Twitter: @Carol_Mulligan

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Open house

Cliffs Natural Resources will hold an open house and information session Thursday from 4-7 p.m. at the Capreol Community Centre, 20 Meehan St., in Capreol.

. Cliffs and its consultants, Golder Associates Ltd., will answer questions about the provincial environmental assessment planning process for the ferrochrome smelter.

. For more about the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, go to www.aboriginalminerals.com.

http://www.republicofmining.com/2012/10/25/sudbury-wahnapitae-natives-work-with-cliffs-by-carol-mulligan-sudbury-star-october-25-2012/