North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Seabridge Gold Inc. May 24 announced that it has entered into a contribution agreement with the Liard First Nation to build positive working relations and to enable the First Nation a meaningful review and analysis of Seabridge's expected activities at the 3 Aces gold project in southeastern Yukon.

"As a responsible exploration company, we are committed to building a meaningful and positive working relationship with our Indigenous partners," said Seabridge CEO Rudi Fronk. "We are pleased that Liard First Nation has signed the Contribution Agreement, which establishes a framework in which both parties will work cooperatively with each other. The development of a common understanding of each other's interests is our first priority."

In particular, the agreement will support LFN in preparing for and participating in assessment and regulatory processes and community engagement. It will also allow the First Nation to hire Kaska people and other experts to provide advice and information to Seabridge on Kaska ways of stewardship as well as scientific and technical matters, helping to ensure that Seabridge has the information it needs to design a project that protects the meaningful exercise of LFN citizens' Kaska aboriginal rights into the future.

"We appreciate Seabridge Gold's commitment to ensuring that LFN has the capacity to participate in the 3 Aces project in a meaningful way," said LFN Chief Stephen Charlie. "Nobody knows Kaska territory like the Kaska, and when it comes to protecting Kaska Aboriginal rights for current and future generations, our input into the project will be critical."

3 Aces is a district-scale, orogenic-gold project consisting of 1,734 claims covering 357 square-kilometers (92,665 acres) located near the community of Watson Lake in southeastern Yukon.

Kaska Dena Council

A map showing the ancestral lands of the Kaska Dena, the people of the Liard First Nation. Click image to see full map.

The property encompasses the two highest-grade surface outcrops discovered to date in the territory and has 30 mineralized veins found through sampling, trenching, roadwork, and drilling with different gold-bearing veins occurring throughout the 762 meters (2,500 feet) of vertical elevation within its Central Core area.

Seabridge has said the target concept for the 3 Aces project is consistent with some of the largest and richest gold deposits in the world, including the California Mother Lode Belt, Juneau Gold Belt, Murentau in Uzbekistan and Obuasi in Ghana.

As the Kaska live in communities between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson, it is in their interest to safeguard their ancestral home of thousands of years.

"Despite tremendous pressure from other developers, we look forward to collaborating with the Seabridge team by sharing our experiences, knowledge and advice to improve the 3 Aces project," finished Charlie.