Kasabonika keeps doors open to development

Since 2000, Kasabonika Lake members have learned about the geology, the bedrock, the types of rocks and how to do prospecting on their traditional land.
“We trained our people to go out there on the land and stake some areas where we think there are lots of potential and we started marketing,” said Kasabonika Lake Chief Eno H. Anderson said.
“We did a drilling project with De Beers,” Anderson said, explaining that while there was not much results from the drilling, the community earned revenue from the project.
“Most of the services they needed we provided. The food, the accommodations, the labour, the gas, fuel, we provided everything, even administrative services.”
Kasabonika Lake has also completed another project with Goldcorp, North America’s fastest growing senior gold producer with operations and development projects located throughout the Americas.
“We provided most of the resources they needed,” Anderson said.
The marketing of the resource properties involves meeting with resource development companies, including at the upcoming Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada 2011 International Convention, Trade Show, and Investors Exchange – Mining Investment Show in Toronto.
Anderson said First Nations people shouldn’t think that resource development is too complicated to do themselves and non-Aboriginal people shouldn’t think that First Nations people don’t have the capital or resources to do resource development.
“When we started we didn’t have any knowledge about the geology or the mining exploration,” Anderson said.
“But when you go through that process, the mining sequence and go out on the land, it gives you the knowledge and the experience; the expertise you have to develop yourself.”
Anderson said this experience and expertise gives the community the confidence they can to do resource development projects.
“We have a couple of projects coming up of which one is a joint-venture with one of the companies and it’s a 50-50 ownership,” Anderson said. “You have to find a way to get the capital — you have to negotiate, you have to design your exploration agreement in order to get what you want.”