Ontario First Nation battles Australian-owned company over Ring of Fire mine

A battle is brewing between a mining company owned by Australian billionaires and the Neskantaga First Nation — and federal officials are sitting on the fence. 

The fight is over the future of the Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper and platinum mine in Ontario’s Ring of Fire — a 5,000 square kilometre region home to the world’s second largest peatlands, considered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to be “globally significant for both climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection,” given the peatlands sequester an estimated 35 billion tonnes of carbon. 

The mine is owned by Perth-headquartered Wyloo, which itself is owned by Tattarang — the private investment group of Andrew and Nicola Forrest, known as Australia’s wealthiest couple until they separated in 2023. Andrew Forrest, with an estimated wealth of C$36 billion, is the executive chair of iron ore giant Fortescue and is one of the 100 richest individuals on the planet. Nicola Forrest’s wealth is estimated at about $11.7 billion, according to Australia’s Financial Review Rich List. 

Eagle’s Nest is one of the most advanced mining projects in the Ring of Fire, making it a possible contender for eventual government fast-tracking. Prime Minister Mark Carney has yet to send a Ring of Fire mining project to the federal Major Projects Office, but government sources have previously told Canada’s National Observer that several developments in the region, including mines and access roads, are under consideration.

While announcing the second tranche of projects referred to the Major Projects Office Thursday, Carney said “unlocking” critical minerals in regions like the Ring of Fire is crucial to the country’s economic growth. 

“The Ring of Fire alone … has the potential to add over $22 billion to Canada’s GDP over 30 years,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is setting the stage for Eagle’s Nest to proceed. In late October, the province signed an agreement with Webequie First Nation to develop all-season access roads to the Ring of Fire and the government’s controversial Bill 5 specifically revokes the requirement for Eagle’s Nest to conduct an environmental assessment. 

All of the 105 public comments submitted to Ontario call on the provincial government to reverse course and require Eagle’s Nest go through an environmental assessment. 

Ford’s office and Wyloo did not return requests for comment. 

As the pieces fall into place for Eagle’s Nest, the Neskantaga First Nation — a fly-in community home to about 400 people living for more than 30 years under a boil water advisory — is fighting the development. In late October, the nation wrote to Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin to request the mine be designated for a federal impact assessment. 

Despite the letter addressed to Dabrusin, a spokesperson initially declined to comment and said the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada would be best suited. When pressed for comment, the spokesperson said the agency will determine if enough information has been provided to begin a designation process and will post a decision to the federal impact assessment registry. 

Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess told Canada’s National Observer the mine’s potential development is very concerning because it is on ancestral territory. “There’s no price tag on our land,” he said. 

“We're pretty much excluded because we're not involved in any decision making,” he said, adding that the Ontario government, by signing a deal with another First Nation to build access roads, is trying to “divide and conquer.”

“It's very sad to see what the government is doing to the treaty partnership,” he said.

If any projects are to be fast-tracked, Quisess said they should be water treatment plants, health care facilities and schools. 

The letter to Dabrusin warns that Eagle’s Nest “could have enormous and irreversible region-opening induced effects,” with the potential to cause major, long-lasting impacts on areas of federal jurisdiction such as effects on fish, migratory birds, federal lands and Indigenous rights. 

Danya Scott, professor at York University and co-director of Osgoode's Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic, which is working with the Neskantaga First Nation, said no one is under any illusion that Minister Dabrusin wants to designate the project for an environmental assessment. But because “the political direction is coming from cabinet to the impact assessment agency,” the goal is to highlight that the federal government’s strategy to fast-track projects means these are the types of assessments that get bypassed. 

“What the federal cabinet is saying right now is environmental assessments are a luxury we cannot afford,” she said, calling it “shocking” that a mine like Eagle’s Nest, if the status quo proceeds, will not be required to assess its environmental impact. 

According to Wyloo, Eagle’s Nest would be “the first mine of its kind” to store 100 per cent of its tailings waste underground. The company also says it is working with federal and provincial governments on permitting, “with an expedited” approach. 

“They're proposing an underground mine up to three-times the height of the CN Tower in depth, [and] underground tailings, which are unproven, especially on peatlands,” Scott said. “But none of that will have been assessed by the time it's approved, especially if both the special economic zones and the project in the national interest designations go forward.”

Eagle’s Nest may be the tip of the spear for Wyloo. The company also owns a chromite deposit called Blackbird less than one kilometre from Eagle’s Nest it considers second in its project pipeline. According to Wyloo, the plan would be to access Blackbird’s chromite using underground infrastructure already in place from Eagle’s Nest. 

Recognizing Eagle’s Nest as a stepping stone to Blackbird is crucial, argues the letter Neskantaga First Nation sent to Dabrusin, because Eagle’s Nest on its own may not produce enough ore to trigger an automatic environmental assessment. 

“When evaluated as a whole, the Eagle’s Nest–Blackbird Deposit Complex would likely exceed the threshold and automatically trigger an impact assessment,” the letter reads. “The future total capacity of this mining complex underscores the need for designation, as Eagle’s Nest alone may be presented as falling below the threshold, but in reality, it serves as the foundation for a much larger mining operation that warrants a full and transparent review.”

Supporting materials from the Neskantaga First Nation can be read here.