Let's make a deal: "one window" consultation provides certainty for miners.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: MINING

Shawn Batise favours the "one window approach" when it comes to doing business with exploration firms.

The executive director of the Timmins-based Wabun Tribal Council spearheaded the development of a tried-and-true method that enables six First Nation communites to share in the mineral wealth from Treaty 9.

"Our communities are business-minded and know how to approach a development," said Batise, a graduate of the Haileybury School of Mines and a former mechanical engineering technologist who worked at Detour Lake mine.

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Batise handles the negotiations for mining and hydro-electric agreements on behalf of the six communities that make up the tribal council: Beaver House, Brunswick, Chapleau Ojibwe, Matachewan, Flying Post and Mattagami.

The Wabun traditional territories take in a wide swath of northeastern Ontario that includes the major gold and base metal mining and exploration camps in Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Matachewan and Gogama.

Batise said their Wabun Resource Development Model is all about 'creating certainty" for both industry and communities.

To date, the council has signed three impact benefit agreements (IBAs) and more than 15 exploration agreements over five years of negotiations, with many more in the pipeline.

"Every company we've dealt with is open to discussing an (exploration) agreement. We're trying to standardize it. I think it's the way to go. It's not onerous; it provides certainty for both sides on moving forward."

Because of the "sea change" with new regulations in Ontario's Mining Act that requires more active consultation by mining companies and prospectors with First Nations, Batise expects as many 40 to 50 exploration agreements at some point.

The model was introduced six years ago when surging gold prices created some robust exploration activity in the northeast. Some communities were unable to deal with the pace and Wabun took charge by devising a model for the communities to follow.

They decided it was time to digitally draw lines on a map to show industry and government the areas of overlapping territorial claims.

"It was a tough sell (in the communities) to draw lines on a map," said Batise. "That's the European way of doing things. Here's my boundary and my private property, don't come on. That's not what we're about. We still don't like it, but we have to."

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