Nuxalkulmc (Nuxalk territory) – The Nuxalk Nation has issued a press release that calls on Juggernaut Exploration, a mining company, to cease operations and leave Nuxalk territory.
Download the Nuxalk press release (pdf) and read in full below.
On behalf of Nuxalk Administration, the elected Chief and Council support the Nuxalk Stataltmc (ancestral governance) in their eviction of unauthorized mining in Nuxalkulmc (Nuxalk territory).
Mining company Juggernaut Explorations must immediately cease its operations, remove their equipment, return the core samples, and leave the area.
“Juggernaut Explorations does not have Nuxalk consent to operate in our territory,” said elected Chief
Samuel Schooner. “As Chief and Council, we support the actions of our Stataltmc, who have issued an
eviction order to the company.”
Juggernaut Explorations, a Vancouver-based mining exploration company, has been conducting test
drilling on two sites in Nuxalk territory for the past several weeks. They are looking for gold and other
precious metals and are breaking Nuxalk law.
“We understand the risks of industrial resource extraction in our territory, especially mining,” said
Schooner. “Any type of mining operation is extremely dangerous to the wellbeing of our territory and
our people.
“One only need to look at the Mt. Polley Mine disaster of 2014 in our neighbouring territory of the
Secwepemc to see the devastation mining can cause. We are united with our ancestral leadership and
do not support any mining operation in Nuxalk territory.”
The Nuxalk Nation has never ceded rights and title to its territory, nor has it entered into any treaty
negotiations with the Canadian government.
Nuxalk Stataltmc have appointed Nuskmata (Jacinda Mack), who has both Nuxalk and Secwepemc
ancestry, to speak on their behalf regarding this issue. She has extensive experience in community
advocacy regarding mining and was instrumental in the response to the Mt. Polley Mine tailings
breach in 2014, when more than 26 million liters of tailings effluent containing toxic copper and gold
mining waste flowed into Quesnel Lake.
For more information or to arrange interviews:
Caitlin Thompson
Communications Director
communications@nuxalknation.ca
250 799 5368
