Meliadine Gold Mine’s Environmental Impact Statement Short on Traditional Knowledge: KIA – Mining Life
Jul 25, 2014
While Agnico Eagle Mines has made efforts to incorporate Inuit Qaujimanituqangit in the research and development of its Meliadine gold project, the Kivalliq Inuit Association has asked the company to consider using more traditional knowledge as the company seeks approval to open its second gold mine in Nunavut.
The KIA is one of a handful of organizations that have submitted comments this month in response to Meladine’s final environmental impact statement (FEIS), which AEM released this past spring.
In a report prepared by Brenda Parlee, an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, the KIA suggests the mining company could benefit from traditional knowledge to identify what parts of the ecosystem are most valued by Inuit, and to better analyze past, current and future trends in the region.
“Inuit communities of the Kivalliq region have many generations of accumulated observations and consequent insights about the local study area and the regional study area,” reads KIA’s submission.
