Forging new bonds with First Nations: Indigenous-led AurCrest Gold sees a shared future with remote communities.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: DRYDEN-SIOUX LOOKOUT

A pioneering First Nation-led gold exploration and sustainable energy company has moved beyond having a social licence to operate by forging deeper bonds with remote communities.

When Chris Angeconeb took the helm as AurCrest Gold's president and CEO in March 2017, he was determined to build upon the good faith relationships the company had fostered with First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario, and then take it a step farther.

When Angeconeb joined the Toronto junior miner as a director in 2011, his knowledge of mining was limited.

A handful of his uncles and cousins had worked in the industry and he'd received an earlier indoctrination while taking a course at Algoma University taught by MiningWatch co-founder Joan Kuyek.

His home community of Lac Seul First Nation, an expansive reserve of three communities located 40 kilometres west of Sioux Lookout, was suddenly flush with millions of dollars after setding an historic flooding grievance and winning a major timber trespass court victory.

Lac Seul invested $500,000 of that money in AurCrest, a small junior mining company operating in their traditional lands. Lac Seul took a 9.9 per cent ownership stake to become the company's third largest shareholder. Angeconeb was appointed by the band council to serve on the board of directors.

AurCrest already enjoyed a good reputation in the community.

Angeconeb's predecessor, Ian Brodie-Brown, the company's current director of business development, was a familiar site in the area when he first appeared on the scene as president of Tribute Minerals in the mid-2000s, then a base metal explorer probing the ground at Confederation Lake in Lac Seul's traditional territory.

If a prospector or junior miner wanted to advance a project in Northern Ontario, it became evident that First Nations consultation was eventually going to be the new modus operandi.

So Brown began cultivating relationships with communities, advising them of his exploration plans well in advance of filing the paperwork and long before it was a provincial requirement to obtain First Nations approval on exploration plans under the revamped Mining Act in 2012.

"It was a rough go," remembered Angeconeb of his early days on the board. Precious metal prices tanked soon after Lac Seul became an owner.

The largest effort has been making sure the company survives through to the next upturn, which seems to be happening now.

Although not a geologist, what Angeconeb brought to the table...