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Speech from Rodney Orr, President & CEO
Wed Sept 19, 2007
Speech from Rodney Orr, President & CEO
Rodney Orr, President & CEOThank you John and thank you to everyone for joining us here today. I want especially to recognize among our many guests and partners,
- Elder Catherine Charles;
- Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and also President of Kitsaki Management;
- Councillors Doris Morin; Pam Mirasty; Hillary Cook; Blake Charles; especially Leon Charles of Grandmother’s Bay who has long been interested in seeing economic development come from mineral resources;
- Ron Netolitzky, Golden Band’s founder and chairman of the board of directors;
- John Tosney who is also a director of Golden Band, among the many other hats he wears, and who is no stranger to many in northern Saskatchewan;
- Ed Yurkowski, the founder and President of Procon Mining and Tunnelling
- Russell Roberts, CEO, of Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership
- Hello also to Harry Cook and Ray McKay who met with us a number or times when they were Chief and CEO of the Band and Kitsaki, respectively, to explore how the Lac La Ronge Indian Band might participate in Golden Band’s work here in the La Ronge Gold Belt.
Thank you for coming today and welcome all.
It was almost one year ago when Golden Band announced it was, after 13 years of steady exploration, ready to evolve from being just an exploration company by starting down what we call – The Path to Production. With that, we stated a clearly defined goal – and set out on what has turned out to be a very busy, challenging, and rewarding year for our company.
From the beginning, we have viewed our Path to Production from a broader, inclusive perspective. We had already established strong relationships with Kitsaki Management and many members of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band – relationships that go back 10 years or more with Golden Band, and even earlier – most notably with both Ron Netolitzky’s and Klaus Lehnert-Thiel’s long-time activities in Northern Saskatchewan that go back some 40 years.
From the beginning, everyone shared common commitments to working with our many northern neighbours, and to environmentally responsible resource development. This long-term approach is evidenced by first, Klaus’, and now my own ongoing work with the group set-up by Sask Environment, the Saskatchewan Mineral Exploration Government Advisory Committee. As the industry co-chair of that committee I am proud to say that we produced in May of this year, a document for the exploration industry -- a Best Management Practice – on community engagement between the companies and their northern neighbours.
Also in this regard, I would be remiss if John Tosney’s many years work on both these fronts were not also recognized here, as well as John’s involvement with the building of three earlier gold mines in the La Ronge gold belt and his past-presidency of the Saskatchewan Mining Association.
Today’s announcements, which I expect are only the first, are a result of this shared history, commitment, and vision.
Now to why we are here:
Golden Band Resources is very pleased to announce that a general services agreement has been concluded with the Kitsaki Procon joint venture. Kitsaki, which is 100% owned by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, has been working on economic development initiatives for over 25 years and they have a long time association with Procon Mining and Tunnelling. Procon has a vast amount of mining experience both nationally and internationally and importantly for us, has experience working in the La Ronge gold belt.
The agreement provides for the negotiation of contracted services including underground and surface mining and construction, ore transportation, freight service, catering, and other services for Golden Band's planned development and gold mining projects in the La Ronge gold belt.
We see this agreement with Kitsaki as another key part of Golden Band’s continuing evolution, and something that follows upon the work already done for us for the past 2-3 years by CanNorth Environmental – another Kitsaki company.
As significant, I believe that the General Services Agreement is to enhancing our operational capabilities, I am honoured to announce that we are also here to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band that outlines the intentions and relationships of a broader, mutually beneficial, partnership between the Band and Golden Band.
The MoU with the Band sets out forward-thinking, strategic, understandings and intentions on the establishment of relationships between us that will help further the advancement of exploration and mining by Golden Band in ways that are mutually beneficial.
These two undertakings, the MoU and the General Services agreement, mark the start of a new era in mineral exploration and development in the La Ronge Gold Belt – one that we can all be proud of!
With this path setting out our future course, I’d like to also take this opportunity to remind some of you of Golden Band’s recent work. Over the last year or so Golden Band has systematically and carefully moved forward with our development and exploration plans:
- we have more than doubled our staff, including the addition of 3 operational VP’s all with extensive Saskatchewan experience;
- we have received a positive Scoping Study for our initial mining development project;
- we have undertaken many of the engineering and environmental related projects that are required;
- we have continued to explore and to achieve success including the discovery of a new deposit and the acquisition of two others;
- we have submitted our project proposal to the Province for the building and operating of four mines and our mill;
- and now, we are confirming our already excellent working relationship with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and Kitsaki Management.
While we’ve achieved a lot – this was not accomplished in just this past year, but in 14 years of working in the La Ronge gold belt – further demonstrating our long-term commitment and perspective. With our long-term outlook and continued focus on maintaining good working relationships with local communities, we are, today, further solidifying our commitment of continuing down the road to production and our position as a ‘real’ company – and one that clearly ‘hits above our weight as a junior’!
There is still much that we have to do. But based on what we have accomplished so far and with the objectives that we have set, we are clearly in the position to re-affirm that we believe that our goal of re-starting gold production in the La Ronge belt is attainable – especially given the strong relationships and history that we have to build upon.
Our goal is to see production within 2009 – a date that will continually be refined as we progress along our path to production.
Some might think that we have been too slow in doing all of this. As we have always done, though, Golden Band will continue to progress in a systematic and prudent fashion. But this is not to say we are either risk-averse or do not have vision. To the contrary, as we are demonstrating today, we are clearly advancing steadily in well-measured steps, both in exploration and on the development front, as well as building those necessary relationships that attempt to meet the needs of all involved.
Going forward, there remains a lot to be done along our Path to Production: this includes community consultations with all of our northern neighbours, an Environmental Impact Statement and review, permitting, engineering, procurement, purchasing, construction, and financings. This is all necessary, manageable and very exciting stuff!
Golden Band has through all this, though, as a clear objective, to start production as soon as we can – always with the ongoing commitment of doing it right.
We are honoured to work with the strong local leadership represented here by Chief Tammy Cook-Searson and the Council and Elders of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.
Golden Band is committed to northern business development in all its forms and opportunities – and with this excellent start, I look forward very much to working with the Band, Russell Roberts, and the entire Kitsaki team.
This general services agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding are an excellent and exciting start for all of us, and I look forward to building further upon this and other relationships, and to continue doing things the “right” way.
E’kosi – thank you.
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