Australian miner Galaxy Resources and the Cree Nation of Eastmain have entered into a pre-development agreement for the James Bay lithium mine, 100 km east of the community of Eastmain, Quebec.
The PDA commits the company to notify the Cree of employment and training opportunities. It also specifies that the company practice preferential hiring of qualified Cree individuals and seek business proposals from Cree companies. Galaxy will also hire a local community liaison co-ordinator who will be based in Eastmain.
The Cree will support pre-production activities and development of the project. They will also co-operate with the company regarding environmental and social impact assessment studies and use best efforts to ensure that the project proceeds in an efficient and timely manner through the review process.
Galaxy filed the environmental and social impact review for the James Bay project with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in October 2018.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)