Chad Norman Day, former four-term president of the Tahltan Central Government in Northwest BC, joined our Stewart Muir on a Power Struggle podcast, and made note of an unusual Tahltan Nation strength in mining: “It may come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I think for a lot of Tahltan people it’s no surprise to see women doing all the jobs that men can do on the mine site. “And when it comes to the heavy-duty equipment jobs, I’ve been told that the women usually do it better and far safer than the men. So shout-out to all the Tahltan women out there; yeah, it breaks so many stereotypes.”
His nation is in the resource-rich “Golden Triangle” region of BC, and has been mining since long before white settlers arrived. “We had obsidian at Mount Edziza, and we utilized that to have all kinds of advantages with weaponry and making tools and we traded that obsidian. They’ve actually found some obsidian as far south as Florida, meaning that multiple indigenous groups obviously traded it to get there.”
Day touched on some of the agreements the Tahltan have with mining companies in Tahltan territory, which covers more than 97,000 square kilometres, encompassing some 11% of the province — “about the size of Portugal.” He mentions, for one, Newmont and its Red Chris mine, which earlier this year (on the 10th anniversary of the mine) announced an $8-million investment to benefit the Tahltan communities of Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake and Iskut. Said Newmont: “Red Chris is an open-pit copper and gold mine that employs around 220 Tahltans and generates approximately $100 million annually in business with the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC).
“The mine pays annual royalties to the Tahltan Heritage Trust and contributes mineral tax revenue to the Province of British Columbia, which is shared directly with the Tahltan Nation. “The Red Chris mine is managed in partnership with Tahltan Nation through an impact benefit and co-management agreement ensuring that Tahltan expertise, perspectives and values guide the operation, and serving as a leading example of reconciliatory resource development.”
Newmont CEO Tom Palmer continued: “We know that our projects and operations can only succeed when the communities that host them are also thriving. Today, we celebrate our partnership with Tahltan Nation and shared stewardship at Red Chris. “Through this community contribution we extend our gratitude for the collaboration Tahltan Nation has helped to foster here as we also show our commitment to a shared vision and shared prosperity for the future.”
The investment funds projects including aimed at improving community well-being, including development of community-use spaces, recreation facilities and greenhouse space, the company said, adding that a portion of the investment will also support planning and pre development efforts to improve housing in each community. “This $8 million contribution gets us started on a series of projects that will enrich all our communities,” Tahltan Central Government president Beverly Slater said. “It is another step toward ensuring every Tahltan child, youth, adult and elder directly benefits from resource development in our territory.”
More recently, Skeena Resources filed applications with BC seeking green lights for the planned restart of operations at Eskay Creek, in Tahltan territory, once one of Canada’s highest-grade gold mines. It hopes for approvals later this year. The applications are also being reviewed with the Tahltan government. Eskay Creek has been billed as “Canada’s next mega-mine,” to produce critical minerals including antimony, zinc, lead, and copper in additional to gold and silver.
Allen Edzerza, a Tahltan Elder, told writer Andrew Kaminsky of Triple Pundit : “Skeena’s leadership recognizes that communities have to benefit from these projects, or there is no reason to support them. “I’ve visited the Skeena mine. I’ve looked at how they plan to deal with acid rock and tailings, and all of that seems like a strong plan. They’ve worked with us to protect some lands, and they’ve hired Tahltan into senior positions in their company.” “The Tahltan have a piece of equity in the company now, but we fully expect that’s not the end of the road or the total sum,” said Justin Himmelright, senior vice president of external affairs at Skeena Resources. “That was the exploration stage, and now we’re moving into a producing mine model, and those discussions are going to continue.”
And a couple of years ago the Tahltan and the neighbouring Nisga’a Nation set up the Treaty Creek Limited Partnership to manage their participation in, and economic benefits from, the KSM mining project. That’s owned by Seabridge Gold, to extract gold, copper, silver, and molybdenum.
Day told Stewart Muir that such agreements came after “a very robust internal engagement and consultation process with our people that ultimately ended in ratification votes from our people.” The Red Chris mine pact, for example, drew 87% support in such a vote. (But the KSM project faces court action from the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, accusing BC of not consulting it over the mine.) KSM could produce an estimated 14.3 million ounces of gold, 14.3 billion pounds of copper, 68.2 million ounces of silver, and 13.8 million pounds of molybdenum — over 39 years.
The Tahltan six years ago made a dramatic entry into the electrical power sector by purchasing, for $124.3 million, a five-per-cent stake in Northwest British Columbia Hydro Electric Facilities. That covers three run-of-the-river projects (Forrest Kerr, McLymont Creek and Volcano Creek) in Tahltan territory. Day, president of the Tahltan Central Government, said at that time: “It’s a historic, unprecedented situation for the Tahltan Nation to be able to own such a significant portion of a major project in our territory. “It’s been a long time coming for our people to start becoming equity partners in some of the major projects in our territory.”
In his Power Struggle interview, Day said: “We are part owners of these clean-energy projects in our own territory and those projects are, I think, worth around $3 billion and that’s what feeds the Northwest transmission line. “When we negotiate these agreements in the right way, and obviously make sure that we take care of the environment and our culture in the process, we can benefit, hopefully, on every large piece of infrastructure and project that comes through the territory.”
Now Day, through his new venture, Thadu Consulting, wants to change the way industry and Indigenous nations collaborate for everyone’s benefit. He told the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in Toronto: “Indigenous people shouldn’t just be involved in the decision making and when it comes to talking about the environment. They should be part owners in these projects.”
- Power Struggle YouTube video: https://youtu.be/q_iYsiDe79I
- Audio and full transcript: https://ow.ly/C0c550Wf4pP
- Chad Day on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/QGz550Wf4Rv
- Stewart Muir on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/Smiq50UWpSB
- Power Struggle on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/KX4r50UWpUa
- Power Struggle on Instagram: https://ow.ly/3VIM50UWpUg
- Power Struggle on Facebook: https://ow.ly/4znx50UWpUs
- Power Struggle on X: https://ow.ly/tU3R50UWpVu
