Wabun Tribal Council will be bestowed with the Skookum Jim Award at the PDAC mining conference next March.
The northeastern Ontario council of six communities crafted the Wabun Model in the mid 2000s, a structured and direct negotiating process between a mining company and First Nations that spells out how the communities will participate in resource activity within their traditional territory in the area of Treaty 9.
Consisting of Brunswick House First Nation, Chapleau Ojibwe First Nation, Flying Post First Nation, Matachewan First Nation and Mattagami First Nation, the process has made Wabun a Canadian leader in negotiating successful agreements that’s brought certainty to industry and prosperity to its Indigenous member communities.
Wabun is headquartered at Mattagami First Nation, its operational office is centrally located in Timmins.
The award is named after the Indigenous leader of the group that discovered the Yukon Klondike goldfields. Award recipients must have demonstrated exceptional achievement or service in an Indigenous business organization operating in the Canadian mining industry.
Wabun is one of five awards to be handed out at the PDAC Awards Gala in Toronto, March 5.
John Burzynski and the Osisko Mining’s exploration team will take home the Bill Dennis Award for its discovery of the Windfall deposit’s gold zone at Eeyou Istchee in the James Bay region of Quebec.
O3 Mining receives the Sustainability Award for its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance and commitment to responsible project development, including become one of the first exploration companies to achieve a ECOLOGO certification.
The Lundin Group Vicuña Exploration Team grabs the Thayer Lindsley Award for its discovery in the Central Andean copper province in Argentina and Chile.
John McConnell and the Victoria Gold Team receives the Viola R. MacMillan Award for its innovative financing of the Eagle Gold Mine development and production in Yukon.
