Yukon court OKs rare Indigenous bid for mine ownership

There could be landmark new life in the abandoned Minto copper-gold mine in the Yukon.

The territory’s Supreme Court has approved a private bid by the Selkirk First Nation to buy the mine’s facilities and some of its equipment in a milestone ruling on the way to what could be one of the first Indigenous ownerships of a mine in Canada. Court-approved receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers has been overseeing the mine, on tradtional Selkirk territory, for more than a year.  

The cost of the acquisition hasn’t been reported. The First Nation and PwC didn’t immediately respond to phone or email requests for comment on Monday.

The court decision, first reported by the CBC on Sunday, approved the sale of the mine’s assets including the mill and water treatment building, and gave the go-ahead for a second transaction involving mineral claims, licences and permits.

If the sale goes through it “would be the first Indigenous owned mine as far as I know,” Heather Exner-Pirot, senior fellow and director of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, declared on X, formerly known as Twitter.

‘Unprecedented’ ownership

“It’s an evolution in ownership for Indigenous communities,” says John Desjarlais, the Saskatchewan-based executive director of the Indigenous Resource Network. “I’m excited to see Indigenous communities exploring the opportunity of investing in mine ownership. If this goes through, it would be unprecedented. If they do their due diligence there is no reason why they can’t be owners.”

Desjarlais added that it’s not only important as a source of revenue, but offers them the opportunity to “control the environmental impact and oversee sustainability.”

The federal Liberal government announced in this year’s budget that $5 billion was being allocated to help Indigenous groups acquire equity in mining projects. It’s unclear at this point if the Selkirk First Nation is applying for that funding.

The Selkirk First Nation’s goal in acquiring the asset is to prevent the permanent closure of the mine, the CBC reported. In a document filed by PwC to the court at the end of August, the First Nation said it plans to complete drilling and exploration to assess whether it can restart the mine, and stated it will not get in the way of the territory’s remediation work.

“The Yukon government will continue to prioritize opportunities for the involvement of Yukon First Nations in economic opportunities associated with mining activities,” Laura Seeley, a Cabinet spokesperson, told Mining.com sister publication The Northern Miner by email.” This court decision offers significant opportunities for Selkirk First Nation, and we look forward to the benefits that this could bring to the First Nation, the region, and the broader territory.”

‘Big leap’

Qasim Saddique, a principal consultant and economist at management advisers Suslop in Toronto, said the Selkirk’s move is rare and bold.  

“From a precedent perspective this is really significant and remarkable that a First Nation government is stepping up to keep the mine open and performing an economic and social responsibility to the nation and to the region,” Saddique said. “There aren’t many examples of this.

“First Nations have been involved in mining for decades, from significant equity ownership to being major suppliers of inputs required to run the industry. But to be both an owner and operator of a mine is certainly a big leap. This is by no means a small feat. And for the mine to be taken over hopefully speaks to a reconciliation journey too.”

Minto Metals

The Minto mine produced about 500 million lb. copper between 2007 and 2023 before owner Minto Metals ran into financial difficulty and shut it down on May 12 last year. The Yukon hired JDS Mining to provide emergency environmental management services at the site, which began the following day.

The territory holds financial security for the site and can access the funding to cover the costs of the reclamation work. Water treatment on site continues and storage capacity is growing.

In April, Yukon Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources John Streicker said the government has allocated $21.5 million in this year’s budget to support ongoing work at the mine site. The money will be drawn from the financial security that was collected from Minto Metals before its closure and is not funded by taxpayers, he stated in a press release.

“Since abandonment of the site, water management has been a top priority for the government of the Yukon,” he said. “One year ago, water storage capacity at the site was just over 400,000 cubic metres. Since then, we have more than doubled water storage capacity and will continue to focus on water management throughout all stages of reclamation and closure.”