Study suggests overhauling Yukon mining law

Federal Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon has accepted a broadly based committee’s suggestions for overhauling legislation governing the Yukon mining industry.

But Siddon has given the Yukon Mining Advisory Committee an early fall deadline to come up with concrete ways to improve the Yukon Quartz and Placer Mining Acts. If the committee doesn’t produce, the government will change the laws on its own.

“We were very pleased, in fact exceptionally pleased, that the minister treated the report so well,” said Jessee Duke, president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines. “We put an awful lot of energy into those recommendations.”

Members of the committee, with representation from the mining industry, government, conservationists and native people, agreed to reform Yukon mining legislation to include specific regulations for land use and environmental protection.

Duke said while this will mean more work in the short term, such changes to the Quartz and Placer Mining Acts represent a permanent solution that will reduce legal uncertainty for miners.

“It’s better to take a little longer and get it right,” Duke said.

In its report, the committee notes a public concern that the mining industry is not subject to land-use regulation or public review on mineral properties.

And the mining industry does not believe screening is required under the Environmental Protection Review Process for every exploration program or placer mine.

That policy led to numerous delays in the Yukon placer mining season in 1990; miners couldn’t get their water licences before extensive environmental reviews were undertaken.

A system for screening major projects already exists under the Regional Environmental Review Committee, Duke said.

But the federal position is that the Canadian government is vulnerable to court challenges if it does not apply the full environmental review to work on every mineral claim.

Duke said the new federal legislation could be in place for next summer. Siddon wants the committee, working with the department of northern affairs, to produce draft amendments to the acts by early October.

The changes will also be co-ordinated with the Yukon native land claims settlement.

In the meantime, Duke said the mines chamber is doing as much as possible to promote good industry practices in the environment.

The chamber has adopted the Mining Association of Canada’s guidelines and mailed them to all members, he said. And they plan to stage a workshop to explain proper exploration practices.

The mining advisory committee also made several recommendations concerning proposed changes to the Northern Inland Waters Act. It proposed a 2-tiered licensing system, with more extensive reviews needed for “major” uses of water.

Public hearings could be waived for “minor” licences where there has been no sign of public concern.

The aim is to speed up the licensing process for phases of mining with low environmental risks, while keeping appropriate public input and government control over water use and waste disposal.

The committee did not agree on everything, for example, on the issue of security deposits as addressed in the proposed Yukon Waters Act. The placer mining industry doesn’t think such deposits are needed because of all the other regulatory controls.