By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Indigenous leaders from the Similkameen Valley are \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by a provincial decision to approve a contentious mine expansion in their territories \u2014 emphasizing that they did not give consent for the project to move forward. On Monday, the B.C. government announced it had issued Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permits for the New Ingerbelle expansion of the Copper Mountain Mine near Princeton in sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx territory. The expansion project will see the century-old mining operation revive its old Ingerbelle open pit gold and copper mine site near nm\u0259lqytk\u02b7 (the Similkameen River). The expansion will extend the mining\u2019s operation until 2047, the province said. In the province\u2019s statement, it acknowledged that the mine is in the Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands\u2019… <\/p>\n
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Indigenous leaders from the Similkameen Valley are \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by a provincial decision to approve a contentious mine expansion in their territories \u2014 emphasizing that they did not give consent for the project to move forward. On Monday, the B.C. government announced it had issued Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permits for the New Ingerbelle expansion of the Copper Mountain Mine near Princeton in sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx territory. The expansion project will see the century-old mining operation revive its old Ingerbelle open pit gold and copper mine site near nm\u0259lqytk\u02b7 (the Similkameen River). The expansion will extend the mining\u2019s operation until 2047, the province said. In the province\u2019s statement, it acknowledged that the mine is in the Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands\u2019... <\/p>\n