Recently, Mount Klappan has become the battle grounds between the Tahltan Bands and Fortune Minerals Ltd over an estimated coal deposit that could be worth $10 billion of revenue. Unfortunately this open pit mine would be built in an area known as “Sacred Headwaters” that is the source for the Skeena, Stikine and the Nass rivers; all of which are major Salmon rivers.
The area is culturally/spiritual important to the Tahltan Bands which is why there is protesting against the development of the area. The Tahltan people are not against development of their lands and are open to businesses from external groups, but the problem with Fortune Minerals is that they have not consulted with Tahltan band enough. This area of land is historical and was the life of the Tahltan people in the past where it was used for fishing for Salmon.
The historical and cultural value of these headwaters, Klappan mountain and three rivers to the Tahltan people are an external problem for Fortune Minerals. This conflict has slowed down the process of setting up the mine and brought the media’s attention to the conflict. The combination of the mine not moving forward and bad publicity has caused Fortune Minerals stock prices to drop. Fortune Minerals has decided to allow the government of the province and the Tahltan Band to discuss and sort out issues regarding the mine. In my opinion Fortune Minerals has stopped moving forward to diffuse any tension between Tahltan Band and to divert all of the media’s attention away from itself in hopes of stopping their stocks from dropping any farther.
Resources:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/stocks/summary/?q=FT-T
http://rabble.ca/news/2014/05/indigenous-protests-mt-klappan-show-respect-land