The Vancouver Sun reports in its Wednesday edition forest products industry had all but disappeared in the Hazelton, B.C., area by the late 2000s. The Sun's Gordon Hoekstra writes in an effort to put a dent in the thousands of jobs that had been lost, Skii km Lax Ha chief negotiator Darlene Simpson and her husband George started a contracting company to try to tap into mining projects that were starting to emerge in the area. Some projects were taking place in the traditional territory of the Skii km Lax Ha, and Ms. Simpson believed they offered opportunities. Tsetsaut Ventures Ltd. started with small jobs, but then began to work with Pretium Resources, which is developing the $450-million Brucejack underground gold and silver mine. As the mine project has grown, so has Tsetsaut. That growth has been significant. The company has employed as many as 120 people during peak working periods at the mine and now has dozens of pieces of heavy equipment such as rock trucks, graders and excavators. Tsetsaut is not the only first nations business in northwest B.C. using its aboriginal rights on the land to take a bigger role in economic development. There are at least 158 first nations business enterprises in the region.