While work on BHP‘s Jansen potash project in Canada continues, the company has granted three new contracts in collaboration with local First Nation communities.
The contracts, which cover BHP’s camp management, site services, and raw ore/handling foundation, include representation from the six First Nations surrounding the Jansen site, with which BHP has Opportunity Agreements.
The Opportunity Agreements were created in 2012 to develop long-term mutual benefits for BHP and First Nation communities. According to BHP, the agreements increase mutual capacity and allow industry to forge new relationships with Indigenous Peoples to provide local jobs, commercial opportunities and develop residents’ skills and talents.
“Across our operations, it is our ambition to create long-term relationships with Indigenous Peoples based on trust and mutual benefit – and these contract awards demonstrate this ambition in action. By integrating local suppliers and Indigenous businesses into our supply chain we are working hand-in-hand with First Nation partners to build long-term positive outcomes for communities and for BHP,” Chief Commercial Officer Vandita Pant said.
The three-and-a-half-year contracts are worth over CAD$260 million and will sustain over 400 local jobs, with more than half being Indigenous. Following the approval of Jansen Stage 1 in August 2021, Indigenous firms in the region have received a total of CAD$470 million in contracts.
According to BHP, it has been a catalyst for First Nation Opportunity Agreement holders and industry partners to come together to support the work at Jansen. Wicehtowak Frontec Services, a joint venture between ATCO Frontec Ltd. and George Gordon Developments Ltd., has been granted the camp management contract. The joint venture was formed in 2011 as a 50-50 partnership to fund the construction of the Jansen Discovery Lodge, and it is now 75% Indigenous-owned.
The contracts for site services and the raw ore/handling foundation have been granted to 2Nations Bird, a new partnership between Bird Construction Inc., Willow Cree Developments General Partner Inc. of the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, FLFN Ventures, and the Fishing Lake First Nation’s Development Corporation. The Kawakatoose, Day Star, Muskowekwan Nations, and George Gordon Developments Inc., the George Gordon First Nation’s business development division, will collaborate closely with 2Nations Bird.
“Indigenous and industry partnerships, such as these, create economic and employment opportunities for our Nation and its members. It also allows us to develop capacity, learn from one another, and grow in tandem. More importantly, these types of relationships are critical to advance economic reconciliation which allows us to develop long-term, meaningful, and sustainable outcomes,” Chief Ananas of Beardy’s & Okemasis’s Cree Nation explained the impact of the contract on his community.
BHP said it is collaborating with First Nation Opportunity Agreement partners and other Indigenous groups to identify employment and skill sets it will require long-term at the Jansen potash project as it moves towards operations, which are expected to begin in late 2026.
BHP added that it has worked with local organisations in Saskatchewan to create pre-apprenticeship programs to raise awareness of trade opportunities and prepare persons for the skills required to work in the mining industry. BHP expects that implementing these programs would attract more people who might have yet to consider a career in mining, notably women and Indigenous people in the region.
“We deeply appreciate our mutually beneficial agreements with First Nation partner communities and look forward to continuing to work together,” shared Caroline Cox, Chief Legal, Governance and External Affairs Officer. “Our partnerships are based on respect and through our work together we seek to better understand Indigenous voices, values, knowledge and perspectives and to incorporate them into the way we work. We strongly believe this will make BHP a more successful company.”
