Last September, the Tahltans protested Fortune Minerals' environmental assessment effort by camping at traditional sites surrounding the mining company's work site.
The local government took notice and the province and the Tahltan Nation both agreed to a tactical initiative to deliberate the future of the Klappan.
After a mediator was appointed to enable discussions between the Tahltan and Fortune in order to push the project forward, the Tahltan Central Council instigated protests, whereby members of the community would camp out in defiance of the mining plans.
Fortune Minerals suspended its operations at Mt Klappan in September to allow the Tahltans and the province of BC to deliberate.
There are indications, however, that Fortune Minerals is moving forward with the project.
Typically, the Tahltan people are not opposed to development and, in fact, have a long history of participating in mining, infrastructure construction, guiding and other resource-related entrepreneurial endeavours.
However, the Tahltans expressed the need for local development projects to proceed more slowly and in consultation with them.
In the case of the Klappan, they said the historical and ancestral connections to the proposed minesite were so deeply connected to the Talhtan people that mining was simply not an option.
The Tahltans feel so strongly about it that they have requested Fortune Minerals to leave their community altogether.
Leaders of the indigenous group say protests will not end until the Klappan is under full protection from mining.
