Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Resolution (May 30/05) - There's a limit to Eddie Lafferty's patience.

Since February, the Fort Resolution trapper has been waiting to be compensated for damages on his trapline caused by mineral exploration activity at Pine Point.

Fort Resolution trapper Eddie Lafferty displays some of the equipment damaged or destroyed on his trapline in February.

Lafferty, 47, says he left the compensation issue with Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN), which is working on a protocol agreement with Tamerlane Ventures Inc. for the band's traditional lands at Pine Point.

"But I'm not going to wait forever," Lafferty says

"Pretty soon I might have to get my own lawyer."

The company used a Caterpillar to plow snow off what it thought were gravel roads and disturbed two traplines.

However, Lafferty says it was not a gravel road, but an old cutline that had grown back in. He said his trapline there was handed down to him from his father.

Ross Burns, president and CEO of Tamerlane Ventures, says he told the community at a public meeting in February he will look at compensating any affected trappers.

"I've never been presented with an actual claim for compensation," Burns says.

However, Lafferty says he sent an invoice and letter to the company in February, but has not received a reply.

Burns says he has not seen the invoice, but will make sure it has not slipped through the cracks.

Lafferty estimates he lost 52 traps, 17 snares and 34 boxes worth about $1,200.

In addition, he notes he lost about six weeks of the trapping season. "I had to pick up my traps in that area."

It is hard to estimate his lost income, he adds, but says it might have been around $2,000. In the area, he catches marten, lynx and mink, plus the occasional wolf and wolverine.

Another trapper removed his equipment from the area following the damage to Lafferty's line.

Lafferty, 47, fears for the future of trapping in the Pine Point area now that mining exploration has returned.

From 1963 to 1987, Pine Point - about 70 km west of Fort Resolution - was home to one of the largest and most profitable lead-zinc mines in Canadian history.

A protocol agreement between DKFN and Tamerlane Ventures will outline a process for co-operating to revive the Pine Point mine.

"Nothing is in place yet," Chief Robert Sayine says. The band is drafting the agreement.