First Nation says McEwen Mining breached agreement, owes almost $1M in unpaid shares

The Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (AAN) has launched a lawsuit against McEwen Mining Inc., alleging breach of contract and environmental damage.

The lawsuit centres around an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) signed in 2011 between AAN and Brigus, the then-owner of the Black Fox Mining Complex near Matheson, Ont.

IBAs are agreements between resource extraction companies and Indigenous communities intended to mitigate the impacts of development on traditional territories and ways of life. 

In this case, the IBA promised AAN financial compensation in the tune of 25,000 shares of the mining company annually.

AAN's director of negotiations, Lance Black, says it was the first IBA ever signed by the First Nation, and it brought good things to the community.

"We benefited a lot from the construction… Over the years we've had many of our members work there. We've had different contracts thanks to the project," he said. 

"We are not against mining development. It's helped advance our community and supported different programs."

Black says McEwen Mining has not paid the shares as detailed in the IBA since it took over the project back in 2017. It also says the previous owner of the mine failed to make those payments. 

In a press release, the mining company says it does not believe its shares and the shares of the mining company that initially signed the IBA are "interchangeable on a 1-to-1 basis" and that this "[complicates] the conversation." 

"We are not responsible for shares that were not delivered by [the previous owner], among other things," they write.

The Black Fox Mining Complex changed hands several times over the past 15 years, from Brigus to the now-defunct Primero to McEwen Mining. Both Brigus and Primero have since dissolved.

The First Nation says that, in 2022,  it noticed it hadn't been receiving the money promised in the IBA for some time. It calculated there's $1M worth of unpaid shares, some of it dating back to the years Primero was operating the mine.

It says meetings to resolve this issue with McEwen mining were unsuccessful.

As for the company, it says it was not notified of any outstanding liability in the IBA when it took over the project in 2017 and therefore cannot be held responsible.