De Beers
Combining Traditional Knowledge and Modern Environmental Engineering at Snap Lake Mine Workshop
127 years of diamond mining experience is valuable. Adding in thousands of years of local environmental knowledge to your mine plan is invaluable.
Elders shared traditional knowledge about local tundra plants in the Northwest Territories during a Snap Lake Mine workshop designed to help De Beers advance its work on revegetation, as part of the mine’s closure and reclamation plan.
The Elders were from the Snap Lake Environmental Monitoring Agency’s Traditional Knowledge Advisory Panel and were joined by the Agency’s board members and representatives from De Beers’ Snap Lake Mine Environment Department for the day-long workshop on the tundra near the mine.
The Elders inspected plants, commented on their importance to wildlife and traditional uses. They also shared their vision of what the land would ideally look like once the mining is finished.
Some of the Elders talked about the caribou and what sort of plants attracted them, others shared knowledge about traditional uses of the plants in the area and how plants would come back to the area in the future.
“Everything you see here, you can use,” said Elder Noel Drybones of Lutsel K’e. “Nothing is wasted.”
Noel said he liked the look of the small yet resilient tundra plants and trees, especially lichen, in the area just outside of the mine site, and said they would eventually draw caribou back to the area.
“If we work together, everything will work out fine,” said Lutsel K’e elder Madeline Drybones.
“This workshop has been an excellent and rewarding opportunity to share the wisdom of the Elders,” said Erica Bonhomme, Environment Manager at Snap Lake Mine. “It is always a tremendous honour to be a part of sharing traditional knowledge and seeing how we can make our own best practices better as a result.”
Photo above: Snap Lake Mine Environment Manager Erica Bonhomme, left, sits with Elders during a workshop designed to collect traditional knowledge about the plants native to the Snap Lake area. The information will be used to advance the mine’s closure and reclamation plan
Source: https://www.canada.debeersgroup.com/News/2015/Combining-Traditional-Knowledge-and-modern-environmental-engineering-at-Snap-Lake-Mine-workshop/
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