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Attawapiskat unrest continues, despite De Beers investment

De Beers spokesperson Tom Ormsby says it's too early to put a number on how much the recent winter road blockade cost the diamond miner, in terms of lost productivity.

The mining company De Beers is trying to find out more about why a small group of people from Attawapiskat is blocking the road to its diamond mine, 90 kilometres west of the community.

The Victor mine will soon mark five years of production — roughly the halfway point in the projected lifespan of the mine.

But the relationship between De Beers and the community is still a work in progress.

Some Attawapiskat residents say prosperity from the mine has benefited few rather than many.

“For those people that are working, they seem to have money, they can feed their families,” said Jackie Hookimaw-Witt, who often comes forward to talk about problems the community faces. “But it's only a certain percentage that are working.”

She said she would like to see more of the money Attawapiskat receives go to social programs.

About 100 of the 500 people who work at Victor mine are Attawapiskat band members.

De Beers spokesperson Tom Ormsby said it can be trying to hear some of the criticism the company faces.

"The progress I've seen with our partners ... they now, as a community, have this very strong over-arching business entity that is learning how to win contracts," he said.

"Attawapiskat now even has cell service, and none of the other coastal communities have it at the level Attawapiskat has — that's a result of their business growth. So it's frustrating when you see everyone tarred with the same brush.”

Various businesses have been created in Attawapiskat to serve the mine as well, including a catering company. De Beers said contracts with businesses in the community have exceeded $300 million over the years.

The company also said it spent a couple of million dollars on a training center that it tacked on to the local high school. The center offers everything from basic adult education to mine-specific training.

And, as a part of the Impact Benefit Agreement signed in 2005, De Beers makes payments to a trust fund that was set up by the First Nation.

Ormsby said there have been challenges — but nothing the company wasn't prepared to take on when it opened the remote mine.

“So we knew that coming in ... we are coming into an area that has a different history than if we had found this mine 10 miles outside of Sudbury or Timmins,” he said.

Ormsby said mining could wrap up at the Victor mine as early as 2018. It will then take several years to properly close the mine.

The company has also discovered other possible mine sites, but Ormsby says none have proven economically viable yet. He added any future production would require a fresh impact benefit agreement with Attawapiskat.

Currently De Beers is working with Attawapiskat residents to help renovate some trailers the company donated to the community beleaguered by housing issues.