A northeastern Ontario First Nation is out to halt the restart of Newmont’s Pamour Mine, outside Timmins, claiming the provincial government has failed in its duty to consult.
Taykwa Tagamou Nation filed claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Nov. 20 asking the court to stay any government authorizations, permits and approvals on Newmont’s plan to recommission and return Pamour to production, 15 years after it was last mined.
The First Nation argues that Ontario failed its constitutional duty to consult by issuing these authorizations, which violate their Treaty 9 rights.
Taykwa Tagamou contends the area around Timmins and Newmont’s Porcupine gold mine operations are within its traditional territory. In its statement of claim, the First Nation said it was not officially notified of Newmont’s restart plans at Pamour until early last year.
The First Nation asserts that government approval of a new mining project is a violation under the treaty.
In a news release issued last week by Taykwa Tagamou, the First Nation said industrial activity over the decades has been disruptive for its members to exercise its cultural practices and rights. Ongoing mining activity threatens their way of life.
“Our ancestors entered into Treaty No. 9 to protect our traditional way of life, and to ensure we all benefit from the bounty of our territory,” said Chief Bruce Archibald in a statement.
“That balance has not been upheld by our treaty partner. Meaningful consultation and sharing of resources are essential to uphold the promises made in the treaty and to ensure that our people can continue to live in harmony with the land and pass on our traditions to future generations,” he said.
Taykwa Tagamou is calling on Ontario to fulfill its duty and work with the community leadership to undertake a joint land-use planning exercise that will “regularize the system of approving permits under the Mining Act.”
The First Nation is also seeking damages in excess of $200,000.
The defendants named in the claim are the ministries of northern development and mines, natural resources and forestry, and environment, conservation and parks, attorney general, along with Newmont Corp. and Goldcorp Canada, the latter named as a Newmont subsidiary.
Taykwa Tagmou Nation is located southeast of Cochrane, more than 100 kilometres east of Timmins. The community said it's downstream from Newmont’s Porcupine district-scale gold operations, which consist of the Hollinger, Hoyle Pond and Pamour mines.
Pamour hasn’t been mined since 2009. It’s located in the northeast end of Timmins’ city limits, 19 kilometres from the downtown, one kilometre north of Highway 101, and abuts the Hoyle Pond mine.
The inactive Pamour site has been an on-again, off-again open-pit mine, operating under different ownership groups. The bulk of mining activity took place between 1976 and 1999, excavating from five separate pits. Mining resumed again in the mid-2000s, up until 2009.
Formerly known as the Century Project when in Goldcorp hands, Newmont says in its presentations that Pamour extends the company's mining life in the Timmins camp through to 2035, adding 1.6 million ounces of gold.
The mine closure plan for Pamour has been amended a number of times since an initial plan was submitted to the province in 2003 by a previous company. The details in that original plan left the door open for a return to mining some day with a single, large-scale open-pit mine.
In its statement of claim, Taykwa Tagamou contends it did not learn about Newmont’s plan to restart Pamour until a January 2023 meeting when community leadership was informed for the first time by Newmont that Ontario had authorized recommissioning of Pamour.
In the months prior, the First Nation was told by the mines ministry that the company planned to make upgrades at the nearby Dome site that involved raising the tailings dam for future deposits of waste mine rock.
According to the statement of claim and media reports, Newmont’s strategy has been to shift production to Pamour once the Hollinger Mine closes at the end of 2024.
But whether Newmont actually follows through on this is debatable as Newmont is shedding assets it deems non-core.
The Porcupine operations, which include Pamour, are on the selling block. Newmont just announced the sale of one of those non-core properties, the Musselwhite Mine in northwestern Ontario, to Orla Mining earlier this month. Newmont first acquired Porcupine Gold Mines in Timmins when it merged with Goldcorp in 2019.
A Newmont spokesperson provided no timetable on when gold production at Pamour will resume.
In 2014, Goldcorp signed a Resource Development Agreement with four First Nations: Mattagami First Nation, Matachewan First Nation, Wahgoshig First Nation (the latter now known as Apitipi Anicinapek Nation) and Flying Post First Nation. The agreement set up a consultation framework on regulatory permitting that also defines the long-term mining spinoff benefits for those communities by way of training, jobs, business and contracting opportunities.
Taykwa Tagamou Nation is not a party to this agreement, and according to its statement of claim, does not have any similar agreement with the company.
An emailed response from Newmont indicates that the province designates Taykwa Tagamou as being on a second tier of Indigenous communities to be consulted.
A Newmont spokesperson said when the company began engaging with the First Nation in 2022, the energy and northern development and mines ministries advised them that Taykwa Nation required only “low level consultation.”
“Prior to this, Newmont’s First Nations engagement focused on four other communities in the Timmins area that the government identified as directly impacted.”
Taykwa Tagamou Nation’s (TTN) statement of claim adds that the mines ministry had informed Goldcorp back in 2021 that Aboriginal consultation wasn’t required as the changes proposed for Pamour “do not have the potential to cause adverse impacts to Aboriginal and Treaty rights and will not result in an increase in the project footprint or any new off-site impacts.”
The Newmont spokesperson said within the past year, the company has “engaged in good faith to reach a meaningful and fair agreement with TTN. Our focus is on being responsible operators and effecting change where we can.”
The spokesperson pointed out Newmont’s $160-million investment to construct a water treatment plant at Pamour, capable of returning 13 million cubic metres of treated water to the Mattagami, Frederick House and Upper Kapuskasing watersheds.
Deputy Chief Derek Archibald said the mining industry has turned its land into an “industrial dumping ground.”
“So, we’re not surprised to see increased investments in water treatment to clean up their mess. It's frustrating that they’ll fund cleanup efforts but refuse to meaningfully engage with us to prevent the damage in the first place. Our lands and rights should not be an afterthought.”
