A CANADIAN indigenous leader has vowed to mount political and legal challenges against Teck Resources’ merger with Anglo American unless the companies properly consult his community over smelter expansion plans, said Bloomberg News.
Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band told the newswire Teck had failed to meaningfully engage with his group about the proposed merger and investments for Trail operations in southern British Columbia.
“To date we have experienced significant impacts without any benefit,” Louie said, calling the companies’ proposal to expand operations without consulting First Nations “unconscionable”.
The merger would create a mining giant worth over $50bn, with Anglo and Teck pledging to invest up to C$750m in the Trail zinc-and-lead smelter to explore copper processing and expand strategic metals output.
Louie said he will ask politicians to block the deal under Canada’s Investment Canada Act unless there is better consultation, citing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
The declaration, legally adopted by British Columbia and Canada, requires free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous groups for measures affecting their lands. “They’re doing these deals on other mines,” Louie said of Teck, “but they have nothing with the smelter, nothing in Trail itself,” the chief told Bloomberg News.
He wants discussions on Indigenous involvement in environmental and cultural issues plus potential job and revenue sharing related to the century-old Trail operations.
Efforts are underway to meet Teck chief executive Jonathan Price within weeks after a previous meeting was cancelled. If the deal proceeds anyway, Louie warned his band was prepared for court action. “We’ll use whatever legal options we have,” he said. “Whatever we have to do.”
