RE:Look at NDM they have the largest copper deposit in Under the Haida Nation v BC (Ministry of Forestry) case, the Supreme Court ofCanada stated that where legal title had not shifted to the Haida Nation, but where their land claim looked likely to succeed, the Government owed a duty to act in an honourable fashion, to listen to their concerns and to accommodate them where their rights were being infringed. The Court stated that the Haida Nation did not have a right to veto a decision. Rather, both parties were required to sit and listen to the others concerns. At issue in the Haida Nation case was the issuance to a Tree Farm licence to Weyerhauser. The Court stated that Weyerhauser was not legally responsible to holding negotiations with the Haida Nation.
LBN, if memory is correct, is now in Stage 4 of the Treaty process and has strong claim to the Lake Morrison land. It definitely has established rights to hunting and fishing in the Lake Morrison area. Again if memory serves, under Stage 5 of the Treaty process, LBN will review mining proposals in their territory jointly with the Government and in Stage 6 will also obtain a veto power over mining proposals.
In our case, LBN has frustrated PB's attempts to enter into discussions. So my thoughts are that LBN may have reached an opinion on whether the mine should be approved without the full benefit of facts on which to base a decision. Hopefully, in considering whether the mine proposal should be approved, the Government and the LBN will review all the facts and implications of whether a mine approval should be granted. The facts would include discussing pollution, lielihood of damage to salmon stocks (and resulting economic damages) as well as the benefits of proceeding with a mine (jobs, mining tax allocation, spin-off economic benefits). From my understanding, the downside risks are small and the benefits large and immediate.
My hope is that their should be a good chance that the new LBN council will agree that a mine with no significant adverse effects will be a net benefit to their Nation. Based on this hope that I hold PB shares. If the decision is against approving the mine because of fear of incomplete data, I hope that the Government will ask for very limited further study and that producing the missing data will be suffcient to sway the LBN.
I have lost money on PB before, I might lose more shortly, but on balance of probability that the mine approval will be granted I remain a shareholder. I hpoe that the decision to approve the mine is reached fairly quickly. It has been four months since the Government asked PB how their review should proceed.