River
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River - 34 free porn video
Chapter 34 - The mine
So far: Wayne headed off to college in London, Ontario. On his mission
from Manitou, he meets new friends, both four-legged and two-legged
ones. He gets a ride back north for Thanksgiving, and Ginny's House II
starts to become a reality.
------ -------- ------
Soon after Thanksgiving Neil Audette's divorce was finalized in
Thunder Bay, and as soon as Nick and he returned home, they started
working on the mine in earnest. Neil took his samples to an assay
place he knew in Sudbury, and it was not long before word got out
about the new gold strike in Northern Ontario.
Within a couple of days there were strange faces in town, as
prospectors were clambering over the terrain to see if more gold could
be found. It was clear to those on the reservation that there would be
no more gold to be found, but the outsiders didn't know that, and they
spent more than a month tramping over the countryside.
The reserve was off limits, however. Nick had secured the mineral
rights to the entire reserve with the Department of Indigenous and
Northern Affairs, which gave the band the right to limit exploration
within its boundaries. Of course, that didn't stop the prospectors
from trying. It was the people's partnership with the wolves that did
that. Any prospector wandering (accidentally or not) onto reserve land
soon had a wolf urging him on his way.
But the individual prospectors were not the problem. They provided a
bit of excitement to sleepy St. Mary's, and the money they spent in
the store and the tavern were certainly welcomed. It was the men in
suits that were more of a bother.
No less than three different mining companies approached the band,
offering to buy the mineral rights. A session was set up to allow the
various representatives to make their pitches.
The evening the meeting was held in the high school nine elders,
including River, and the four members of the band council who were not
elders listened to the presentations.
Northern Mining and Manufacturing went first, offering $100,000 cash,
and a 25% royalty on all gold extracted. Nick was present as band
legal representative, and asked the pointed questions.
"You mention royalties on gold. What are the royalties on other
minerals extracted?"
"Most of the rest of the materials will be worthless slag," the
representative said. "There will be no royalties on that."
"True, most of the material is slag, but our sources indicate that
there is substantial silver in the ore, and there may be other useful
minerals, like copper or nickel."
The suit was flustered. He had not expected to face such a savvy
lawyer at a remote northern reserve. "We tend to use the value of
other minerals to offset costs of mining."
"To increase your profits, in other words," Nick offered, and the man
didn't dispute it. "What type of mining process will you use?"
"The most efficient process is to strip mine," the man said. "The
overburden is removed to the depth of the seam, and the ore is
extracted. The overburden is generally stored offsite, creating a
small hill that could be used for recreational purposes."
"Sounds like a garbage mound to me," Nick said. "Why not return the
overburden to the original site?"
"That can't be done," the man said. "You can't put the overburden back
when the mine is still active. And to replace it later is just
wasteful, moving it a second time when there is no further profit in
it. You could use the hill for skiing, cross-country, and hiking in
season. It could be a great asset to the community."
"I see. And the gold seam appears to run under the river. How would
that be removed?"
"That is not difficult," the man in the grey suit said. "It is just a
matter of relocating the river." River gasped when she heard that. "We
just divert the water course, probably a few miles up, and provide it
with a new outlet to the lake. The land where the mine is will
eventually fill up and provide a beautiful lake."
"What will that do to the harbor in town?" Nick asked.
"It should cause no problems," the man said. "There might be a need
for some water flow, but water could be piped in. In most such cases
the river mouth just becomes a bay, and functions well as a marina.
Silting might require dredging every few years, but that is a cost
that is readily covered by your royalties."
"It is our understanding that there are $150 million in gold in the
vein, according to prices from last week. When would we get our share
of the money?" All the men from the three groups got wide-eyed at that
estimate. If true, then the mine was three or four times the size they
had been expecting.
"We would have to do a lot of testing to determine the full value of
the mine, of course," the man said. "Your band would get your money at
the end of every year. If the mine is of that size it will take 10 or
15 years to clean it all out."
"Finally, we wish to know what proportion of the work will be done by
natives, and what proportion will be done by outside workers."
The man hesitated. "We will use local people whenever possible. Most
of the jobs are for skilled mining positions that will have to be
filled by experienced miners. There might be 10 or 15 positions your
people could fill, things like drivers of the smaller trucks. That is
out of the workforce of 250 that would be at the mine."
Copper Cliff Resources was the next to speak, and it seemed they were
going a bit on the fly. They promised $250,000 up front, as an advance
on royalties, and 30% royalties.
"Does your company expect to use the same mining techniques as
Northern?" Wayne asked.
Blue suit answered. "Yes, to a large extent. I think I detected a
major concern over the environmental impact, so I'm glad that we put
together this presentation of some of the rehabilitation efforts our
company has accomplished in other places." He showed a 10-minute slide
show.
"Very pretty," Nick said. "But I expect that those areas were also
very pretty before the holes were dug and mountains raised."
"Of course raw nature is always better," the man admitted. "But we
bring things back to as close as possible to what we started with,
with the benefit of having removed the economic assets from the land."
"Thank you. And now for the final outside bidder, Canadian Shield
Mining," Nick said.
The third set of suits said little more than the first, although this
was a smaller company and didn't offer any payment up front. But they
offered 40% commission. Their presentation was less glitzy than the
others, and Neil had said this would be the best of the three for the
project. However, Nick had a surprise for the suits.
"As I mentioned, there are three outside bidders on this project," he
said. "However, we also have an internal bidder. You know that Ojibwe
Mining Company was founded several weeks ago. This was not to be
merely a shell company set up to receive royalty payments from outside
companies, but as an operating company. I would like to have its
representative speak. Miss River Waters."
River stood confidently. She was quite outraged at what she had heard,
and could sense that most of the elders were as well. Moving the
river, stripping land away and throwing it on a pile that they would
call a hill or mountain, creating a great scar on the earth that they
would call a lake when it filled with stagnant water.
"Gentlemen," she said to the band members, ignoring the visitors. "Our
company is very new, but we do have over 25 years of mining experience
within our principals, and we hope that we can provide the community
with an asset that gives back to the community, rather than tearing it
apart in the quest for dollars.
"We are aiming to build a small tunneled mine, with a small workforce
going underground to extract only the gold-bearing ore, with as little
of what has been called slag as possible. We will use a small
workforce, who we will train in mining techniques, entirely from the
people of the band. Our goal is to extract about $3 million a year
from the mine."
At that point, the man from Northern Mining burst out laughing. River
stopped, and turned to him.
"I'm sorry, but this is a joke, right?" he chuckled. "I mean you bring
in a little high school girl, and feed us this tripe. Tunnel mining
went out in the 19th century. In case no one has told you, it is the
21st century now. And $3-million a year? No one does it like that. It
will take forever to complete the project and move on."
"Sir," River said calmly, "I didn't interrupt your presentation, even
though I dearly wanted to when you casually decided that our river was
unimportant and could be moved and replaced. I hope you will give me
the chance to make our presentation."
"You mean it is not a joke? You are serious?" the man said.
"It is not a joke. You people see this project simply as a means of
making a quick buck. Get in, get the gold, and then get out. We look
at it differently. The Ojibwe view is that the earth is something we
share, not something for us to abuse. We wish to use this project as a
long-term way to provide jobs for our people, and resources for
improving their lives. I'm not sure that piling up rubble and calling
it a mountain would improve anyone's life, except for your
shareholders, perhaps."
"We know our methods are dated. But many of our people still hunt with
a bow and arrow: a technology 2000 years old. We know that it is
easier with a rifle, but there is a peacefulness in going into the
woods, using your skills to approach the animals silently for a chance
of success. Sure, you can shoot a high-powered rifle from two miles
away and bring down an animal, but where is the pride in that?"
"Our goal is to start a small company. We will use four underground
workers at first, until they are trained, and then form a second
shift. Eventually we will have four 40-hour shifts a week, with an
eight-hour maintenance period. There will be another three men per
shift taking the ore to the smelter."
"A smelter too? This is too much?" the man from Northern laughed.
River stared at him until he apologized for his outburst and then
continued.
"Yes, we will have a small smelter to extract the gold and the silver
from the ore. We know our operation will be less efficient than
sending the ore to a central refining company, but we expect to
extract 98% of the metals. It will also provide another 12 local jobs,
operating on a single shift. So in total there will be 40 workers, and
an office with one or two other jobs. The big difference is that these
are jobs that we can expect to last at least 50 years. Jobs with a
future."
River sat down, and the band members grouped together to discuss the
bids. River had the right to join in, but didn't as a sign of respect
for the other bidders. After only five minutes of discussion, they
returned and Nick stood.
"Gentlemen, I wish to thank you for coming to this meeting today. Our
band elders and officials have voted unanimously to select Ojibwe
Mining for this project. Thank you again."
"This is preposterous," the man from Copper Cliff shouted.
"What do you expect?" the man from Northern replied. "They are a bunch
of primitive Indians. Throwing their money away, and then claiming
they need more and more from our taxes."
"I wouldn't talk about taxes," Nick retorted. "It is my understanding
that your company hasn't paid any in the past 15 years, taking tax
credits that completely offset your fair share, in spite of your huge
profits."
"This isn't over, my friend," the Northern rep said. "You have control
of the reservation, and a small claim to the north, but I know mining,
and gold in one area will occur elsewhere nearby. We will find it, and
we will mine it."
The meeting then broke up, with the visitors grumbling as they went to
their fancy cars, laughing at all the old and broken down pickup
trucks that the elders drove. They even mocked the newer truck that
they had seen Nick had arrive in. "Can't be much of a lawyer if that's
all he can afford," the man from Copper Cliff said as he left. Nick
didn't hear the comment: he and the rest of the elders were inside
congratulating River on the job she had done.
------ ------- -----
The next morning River got a chance to visit Marilyn, partially to
thank Nick for his help at the meeting the day before, but mainly to
get a chance to see the baby. Still only a month old, she was
developing at a rapid rate with the love she was getting from her
parents, all her grandparents, and all the other people of the reserve
who had fallen in love with the tiny baby, still small for a newborn.
Some were lucky enough to earn a smile from the infant.
Carla and Liesl were visiting before heading to their respective
busses, and River heard them gossiping about some "cool guy" that
Liesl had met at school. From the way she gushed about him, River
thought he must be a TV or movie star. Finally she asked who it was.
Liesl turned red, not realizing that River had been listening. "Uhm,
it's Mark," she finally stammered. "Sorry, but your brother is just
the coolest boy in middle school. All the girls think so, not just
me."
Mark, a heartthrob? River had trouble believing it. Liesl explained.
"He is not just big and strong, he is the nicest boy in the whole
school. He stopped all the bullying, and before class and during
recess he often stands near the grade five girls, and makes sure no
one teases or bullies us. He always helps other students understand
the work, so he is super smart. He even wrote the story that our class
is reading."
"I know that story," River admitted. "It is really good."
"It is great," Liesl said. "Most stories they give us to read are
about kids in the city, and it is hard to relate to them. But Mark's
story is about right here, even though it was many years ago. Mrs.
Cutler said she can even use it for our history class."
"So Mark can pretty much have any girl in the fifth grade," River
noted.
"The whole school," Liesl said. "Even the grade eights like him.
Jocelyn McKellar kissed him yesterday."
"What?" River exclaimed.
"She has been after him for weeks," Liesl said. "She is really pretty.
Her boobs are nearly as big as yours, River, and she has a really nice
figure, and long brown hair. Super cute, and one of the most popular
girls in the school. Anyway, she has flirted with Mark for weeks, but
he never reacts, and I think that bothers her. She pretty much can
have any boy in the eighth grade she wants, just by a wink. But not
Mark."
"Tell me about this kiss," River said.
"It was at the end of lunch," Liesl explained. "Mark was watching the
kids leave the cafeteria, so no one bullied anyone else. Jocelyn just
walked up to him and planted a big kiss on him, right on the lips."
"How did he react?"
"He shouted yuck, and wiped his mouth with his shirtsleeve. Jocelyn
nearly started to cry. I bet she never had someone act like that when
she kissed them before."
"Well, he is only 10, no 11 now. I guess that is a bit young for
kissing girls," River suggested.
"Yeah. If he does though, I hope it will be with me," Liesl admitted
shyly.
"Well good luck with that," River said. "I just hope he does it with
someone his own age when he is ready. You have to remember that boys
develop slower than girls, so we have to wait for them to catch up on
things. Just because Mark looks older, and acts older with a more
mature attitude, he is still a kid your age inside. Wait for him, and
maybe you will be the lucky one. I do know that he likes you as a
friend."
"He likes me?" Liesl said.
"As a friend," River repeated. "Just don't go pushing him into
something he isn't ready for. That would be the quickest way to lose
him, like that Grade 8 girl did."
"Yeah, I guess so," Liesl said. "Thanks for talking to me River. Oh
look, now I have to rush to the bus. Give Luv another hug for me,
Carla."
"Quite the little Peyton Place, around here, isn't it," Marilyn said
with a chuckle as she helped Carla change the baby.
"Yes, I think I will talk to Mark about it tomorrow at the river."
----- ------- ------
Mark and River now both spent their early mornings in the river. Mark
no longer needed a flashlight to see in the dark, and was starting to
learn the animals and trees the way River had when she first started
visiting the river.
After they finished their homework, Mark dictated another story for
River to type. His original story was still being used in class, but
his fans (all the rest of the class) begged him for more, so he was
now on his third short story. Mrs. Cutler would print several copies
out and the students shared them back and forth. Even Grade 6 and 7
students could be seen reading them.
"Mark," River said. "I understand you had a run-in with Jocelyn
McKellar the other day."
The big lad looked at her. "How did you hear about that? The river?"
"No, I have other sources," River said. "Do you want to talk about
it?"
"No!" Mark said abruptly.
"Okay, but if you ever do ..."
"She stuck her tongue in my mouth," he said. "It was gross."
"Ah, that wasn't part of what I had heard," River said. "It surprised
you, I guess."
"Well, wouldn't it surprise you if someone stuck their tongue in your
mouth?"
"If I wasn't expecting it, or if it wasn't someone who I wanted to do
that, then it would."
"Why would you want anyone to do that?" Mark said.
"Well, if it is someone special, someone you really love, then that
can be a way of expressing that love. Has Dad explained things to you:
about girls and boys and making babies."
"Yes, and that is gross too. I mean ... oh, yuck."
"You are still young Mark, and he probably wanted you to know all
about that once you grew bigger. You look older now, and people think
you are older."
"I know, but sometimes I am just a little kid inside," Mark said.
"Yes, and it makes it hard. You know, Jocelyn would have felt terrible
the way you reacted to her."
"What? She was the one who started it. I didn't want to kiss her. Or
anyone. And certainly like that. Have you ever kissed anyone like
that?"
"No I haven't," River said. "Wayne ... well, I would for him, but he
has never tried it. He knows I am too young for him now, and the
river: it doesn't want us to, so we don't. But I know Mom and Dad kiss
that way. That's where the slang expression "suck face" comes from,
you know."
"Really? I didn't know that. You know, I feel a lot better after
talking to you about this River. Do you really think Jocelyn would be
upset?"
"Big time," River said. "I mean I understand she is one of the
prettiest and most popular girls in Grade 8. Then she sees a boy she
is interested in, and she finally gets her nerve up to kiss him, and
he reacts like it was horrible. That would be so damaging to her ego."
"What do I say to her? I didn't mean to upset her."
"Talk to her, alone if you can. Tell her it wasn't that you were
disgusted, just that you were surprised. Remind her that you are only
Grade 5, and are not ready for things like that. She should be going
out with boys her own age, not younger ones."
"Thanks River, I will do that."
Marisol
- 13.06.2021
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