By IAN ROSS
North Bay mine builders Cementation Canada are teaming up with an Inuit development corporation in Canada’s Far North to form a new company.
Cementation inked a shareholder agreement in April with the Kitikmeot Corporation of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, to form Kitikmeot Cementation Mining and Development (KCMD).
The new company was created specifically to market and carry out mine development in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories along with developing a skill set base for Northerners.
The partnership will provide training and eventual job opportunities for the Inuit of the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, while allowing Cementation to gain a permanent foothold in an area that is flourishing with diamond and gold exploration activity.
The Kitikmeot Corporation is a well-known Inuit development group that has established a number of other businesses that service and support mining companies.
Cementation Canada president Roy Slack becomes KCMD’s president with Kitikmeot’s Charlie Lyall being named the company’s CEO.
Their first project is an extension to the Diavik Diamond Mine near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Cementation was recently awarded a two-year, $20 million contract to do underground work on the currently producing open pit mine.
Cementation will build an underground ramp to extract a bulk sample for continuous exploration of a kimberlite pipe and will build some development headings to further develop the ore body.
Slack says establishing training opportunities for the Kitikmeot Inuit helps his company in the short term but should benefit the entire mining industry in the long run once development work is finished and mine operations begin.
Cementation is working with Diavik and the Kitikmeot Inuit on various options including renovating some existing mine sites to establish them as full-fledged training facilities.
Funding arrangements for training between the parties have yet to be hammered out.
Kitikmeot Cementation will initially employ 40 to 50 people, a combination of experienced miners and supervisors with trainees.
Administrative support will be managed by the Cementation and Kitikmeot Corporations.
“The company itself will be focused on the site work,” says Slack.
Cementation is following a nationwide progressive trend of mining and forestry companies working with Native groups to extract natural resources while utilizing local labour.
Slack says in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, mine owners realize it’s good corporate citizenship to include Native groups when working in environmentally sensitive areas and in dealing with cultural issues.
“It makes sense for the mine owners and for us in those sensitive areas to team up with a partner that can help us deal with those issues.”
While Cementation is working on a number of projects in Northern Ontario, including mine building and expansion projects at Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine, and Falconbridge’s Kidd Creek expansion and Nickel Rim projects in Sudbury, none of them so far utilize Aboriginal labour, says Slack. He says that’s up to the client.
“We work with our clients closely and that’s something jointly determined. (We) talk to clients about the best way to engage local labour. It’s really on a project-by-project basis.”
Cementation first struck up a dialogue with Kitikmeot more than two years ago.
“When Diavik came up, we thought there might be chance to work together. It really came together nicely and we both have a very common vision of we want to do in the North.
“It’s more than just making money. They’re very interested in opportunities for their people and we’re interested in establishing a long-term basis in the North, not just doing a project and leaving.”
Slack regards Nunavut and the rest of Canada’s Far North as fertile exploration and development ground that holds great growth potential. Last year, 60 million acres were staked in Nunavut.
The exploration frenzy in the new territory is continuing this year with 1,137 permits issued to date.
Eighteen different companies applied for exploration permits this year with De Beers getting the most at 538, followed by BHP Billiton Diamond at 233 permits.
“That’s an area that booming right now and we see lots of opportunity in the North,” says Slack. Companies are finding diamonds, gold and sapphires, he says.
Nunavut officials blame a drop of almost 400 in the number of permits issued over 2004 on a lack of available ground.
