Finding common ground on mining: more Aboriginal insight needed in development: university report.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: THUNDER BAY

Effective Aboriginal engagement and participation in regional planning is the lynchpin to making progress on mineral development in northwestern Ontario.

Lakehead University's Centre for Excellence for Sustainable Mining and Exploration (CESME) released its first policy paper this spring, calling for greater First Nations involvement in shaping regional decisionmaking and consultation processes, environmental protection, training programs, and in re-examining Ontario's tax regime.

The 32-page report concluded that while there are "widely divergent" viewpoints from industry, First Nations, strategists, consultants, watchdog groups and policy wonks on how to promote sustainable mining development, there's plenty of common ground to be found.

The report's bottom line, said CESME director Pete Hollings, is that government needs to "step up and take a leadership role" with a development strategy to facilitate mining development.

The document is a compilation of the group discussion and conclusions drawn from CESME's inaugural conference, the Role of Government Policy in Sustainable Mining Development, held in Thunder Bay in December 2013.

Released at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in March, the paper has been distributed to politicians, government bureaucrats and mining companies.

Hollings said Queen's Park has promised a billion dollars for infrastructure to reach the stranded deposits, but is falling down in providing clarity in the environmental and permitting processes.

A provincial Ring of Fire development corporation has been created, but in producing tangible results "that seems to be going nowhere fast" which only adds to a sense of widespread frustration felt in the North.

The report said much skepticism exists about how much economic potential exists in the Ring of Fire, but all stakeholders agree that "development is inevitable."

The dialogue revolves around how to strike a balance between company profits and the needs of First Nation. Resource revenue sharing would ensure Aboriginal communities would not be excluded from the benefits of mining.

But progress on that front is moving slowly, said Hollings.

It only contributes to a landscape of uncertainty that doesn't promote Ontario as a mining-friendly province.

"It's hard (to attract investment) into the Ring of Fire without some clear idea of when you might see a return," said Hollings. "And that return requires the permitting process...