CASE STUDIES

Over the last 30 years, Aboriginal people have gained a lot of experience using SEPAs and Joint VenturesJoint Venture: commonly, a business to which two or more parties contribute the essential land, capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases., and services, in return for a share in its ownership and control. (Note: the Joint Venture is very strictly defined under Canadian law.) to advance their interests. Well negotiated and implemented, these agreements can capture for local people benefits that otherwise would only enrich investors far away.

Some communities have negotiated with corporate mining giants, some with junior companiesJunior Company: a mining company that has no mining operations. It must rely almost entirely on the capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases. markets to finance its exploration activities.. Sometimes two or three Aboriginal communities have negotiated with one company. Sometimes the negotiations have involved land claims as well as mining benefits, so federal, provincial, or territorial governments have been at the table as well. In some cases and in some respects, Aboriginal communities have been satisfied with their agreements. In others, they have been disappointed. There are important lessons that Aboriginal people across the North can gain from this vast range of experiences.

We have chosen five of these experiences as case studies in the negotiation of agreements between Aboriginal communities and mining companies. Each case study illustrates a number of important issues. They appear at the end of this introductory module.

1. Northwest Territories Diamond Mines. In 12 years, one Aboriginal community has been involved in negotiations with three different mining companies. This case study shows how a community’s lack of capacity can lead to poor agreements. However, it also shows how, by learning from one agreement, a community can negotiate later agreements more effectively (p. Intro-10).
2. Raglan Mine (Quebec). An Innu organization shows how capacity located at a regional level can bring about a solid agreement, of real value to all parties. A sound understanding of leverageLeverage: strategic advantage or the power to act effectively. In negotiation, leverage is a measure of which side, at any given moment, has a greater ability to influence the other side. has brought benefits to multiple communities, including significant amounts of revenue (p. Intro-21).
3. Brewery Creek Mine (Yukon) This story demonstrates how an excellent team of negotiators recognized that part-ownership of a mine was not in the best interest of their community. They were able to come to a solid agreement with a junior mining company that at first had little desire for a working relationship with the community (p. Intro-30).
4. Voisey's Bay Mine (Newfoundland and Labrador). In this story, earlier experiences in land claims negotiation enabled an Aboriginal group to recognize its points of leverage and negotiate effectively with a mining company. The community’s equal representation on the environmental assessmentEnvironmental Assessment: a written report, compiled prior to a production decision that examines the effects that proposed mining activities will have on the natural surroundings. panel ensures that the mine addresses local social, economic, and environmental concerns (p. Intro-39).
5. Keno Hill Silver District (Yukon). This story shows how several agreements may be concluded, one built on top of the other. The result, to date, is an exploration agreement over the highly promising – but as yet undeveloped – Bellekeno East Deposit. This agreement is strong on implementationImplementation: the carrying out or execution of an agreement, decision, or plan. procedures. What benefits an actual mine will generate remains to be determined (p. Intro-45).

(We provide no separate case study of a Joint Venture. However, Modules 5 and 7 supply many details about the negotiation of a trucking Joint Venture servicing mines in northern Saskatchewan.)

Please become familiar with each case study. As you read the modules, watch for the *starred links. They indicate which case study offers a good example of a point made in the text.

SEPAs and Joint Venture agreements are usually confidential. So the actual content of each agreement and its results are often hard to get. Only the details of the Raglan Agreement have been made public. Although we made our best effort to provide as much information as possible in each case study, there are big gaps in most of the stories. (The SEPA concerning Bellekeno East Deposit has only just been concluded. The information about its implementation is very limited for now.) Please refer to the endnotes for the information sources.