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Golden Band moves step closer to active mining operation
 Present for the announcement by Golden Band Resources Inc. were: Rodney
Orr, president and CEO of Golden Band Resources, Russell Roberts, CEO
Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership, Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Chief
of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and Bill Hutchinson, minister of First Nations
and Metis Relations, including the Northern Affairs division for the Saskatchewan
government. |
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Rodney Orr, president and
CEO of Golden Band Resources
met in La Ronge
with Chief Tammy Cook-
Searson, chief of the Lac
La Ronge Indian Band
(LLRIB) and Bill Hutchinson,
minister of First Nations
and Metis Relations
(FNMR) and the minister
responsible for Northern
Affairs, a division of
FNMR, in La Ronge; Orr
announced the signing of
the La Ronge Gold Project
Surface Lease Agreement
2009 by the provincial
government. The province
was represented at the
signing by the ministries
of First Nations and Metis
Relations and Environment,
according to a joint
news release from Golden
Band Resources Inc., the
Lac La Ronge Indian Band
(LLRIB), and the Band’s
economic development
arm, Kitsaki Management
Limited Partnership.
The signing of the agreement
brings potential employment
opportunities for
LLRIB, both for members
and for the companies
within Kitsaki, Cook-
Searson said, adding the
Band has been working
closely with Golden Band
because their potential
mining operations are
within the LLRIB traditional
territory.
There are potential opportunities
for Kitsaki,
particularly through Kitsaki’s
trucking company,
Northern Resource Trucking,
along with its environmental
company, Canada
North Environmental Services
Limited Partnership,
she said.
“All the different companies
that we have will be
able to service this mine
once it opens up,” she said,
adding Golden Band will
Golden Band moves step closer to active mining operation
potentially have about
100 employees once the
mining operation opens
and Cook-Searson hopes
many of those jobs will go
to LLRIB members.
“It’s one more of many
steps that Golden Band, as
a gold mining company,
has to go through in terms
of the regulatory process.
It’s a very important part
because it pulls together
not only the province and
the company, but the local,
traditional users of the
land as well. We’ve tried
to bring this an all inclusive
event to announce the
signing Golden Band has
had with the province,”
Orr said.
The agreement signed
involves covers surface
lease, which covers the
areas of Jolu Mill, the
Bingo Mine, which will
be an underground mine,
and the Komis and EP
mine, which will be open
pit mining operations.
The agreement signing
brings these entities under
a single lease, which allows
Golden Band to proceed
with the next steps to
complete the process.
Although Orr said,
Golden Band originally
expected to have the mining
operation up and running
by the end of this
year, he now thinks it will
be the summer of 2010
before that happens.
The Bingo Mine is
close to Grandmother’s
Bay, while the Komis and
EP mines are northwest of
Brabant.
The company still needs
to fundraise for some of
the capital, approximately
$30 million to make that
happen, he said.
Once the operation is
up and running, the ore
will be trucked from the
mining operations to the
Jolu Mill for processing,
Orr said, adding, Golden
Band will pour gold bars
at the mill and the three
mines will produce about
70,000 oz per year.
Valerie G. Barnes-Connell
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