West High Yield Resources (TSXV: WHY) corporate secretary Barry Baim is one of many mining executives active in British Columbia wondering when the legal fog surrounding Indigenous rights will dissipate.
Despite reaching an agreement with BC’s Osoyoos Indian Band, Calgary-based West High Yield has seen its efforts to advance Record Ridge, a proposed C$30-million magnesium mine in the province’s southeast, stymied in recent months by legal challenges from a US-based First Nation located downriver. The group argues that the project could affect lands and waterways of cultural and ecological importance.
In June, BC’s Supreme Court lifted an injunction that had temporarily restricted construction activities pending resolution of a judicial review, allowing work on the project to resume after a six-week halt. Even so, the repeated delays mean West High Yield will be hard pressed to meet its goal of starting production at Record Ridge in next year’s first quarter.
Situations like these are a result of British Columbia’s 2019 decision to pass the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIPA), a first of its kind in Canada. The law commits the provincial government to align its legislation with the principles contained in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and to develop action plans in consultation with Indigenous peoples.
DRIPA “has been a detraction for sure” as West High Yield attempts to raise funds for Record Ridge and a magnesium oxide plant to process output from the mine, Baim told The Northern Miner in an interview.
“We have specifically talked to a number of financiers about our project, and one of the stumbling blocks is the lack of clarity over when we will get our final permit to disturb ground. Until this gets resolved, I believe capital is looking at British Columbia and saying: ‘We’re uncertain as to the future there, we need to invest elsewhere.’”
Read the full article at Mining.Com: British Columbia mining hampered by DRIPA ‘confusion’.