Sacred Headwaters dispute gets breather as mining company departs briefly

VANCOUVER – A Canadian mining company says it is voluntarily pulling out of an area of northern British Columbia, but Fortune Minerals (TSX:FT) warns it is not leaving Mount Klappan for good, and remains committed to an open pit coal mine in an area considered sacred by First Nations.

In a release issued late Monday, the London, Ont.,-based company says it is voluntarily withdrawing from its exploration camp for several months so the Tahltan First Nation and B.C. government can continue talks about development of land around the headwaters of the Nass, Skeena and Stikine rivers.

The company’s withdrawal comes one day after Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhee said 40 elders who have been protesting outside the Arctos Anthracite camp for the last six weeks entered it on Sunday and told the workers to leave.

That order followed a Saturday evening meeting between the Tahltan and B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett at the remote site, several hundred kilometres north of Terrace, where Bennett told protesters he would urge Fortune Minerals not to seek an injunction against them.

He also apologized for the wording of a news release issued last week which angered the Tahltan because they said it implied a newly-appointed mediator had no choice but to ensure the mine is built, even though aboriginals want protection of the culturally and environmentally significant region known as the Sacred Headwaters.

The Tahltan argue the announcement violates the recently signed Klappan Initiative, which calls for joint government and First Nations decisions over the Sacred Headwaters, but Bennett says the government is hopeful the initiative will continue. (The Canadian Press, CFTK)

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