RELIEF ORDER FOR PEEL CLAIMS ROBS TAXPAYERS OF REVENUE
The Yukon government’s decision to let mining companies keep their mineral claims in the Peel region without doing any assessment work or paying $100 per claim in lieu until February 2011 is a bad deal for Yukoners, says NDP MLA Steve Cardiff.
“These 2,400 mineral claims could have generated nearly a quarter of a million dollars in revenues for the government, or on-the-ground jobs for Yukon people, and I cannot think of one good reason why this move is necessary at this time,” Cardiff says.
“For the government to so shamelessly pander to the Yukon Chamber of Mines and a handful of exploration companies without fully consulting with either the Peel Watershed Planning Commission, the four First Nations with vested interests in the region and the Yukon public troubles and concerns me.”
About 1,375 of the 2,400 claims are registered to cash-strapped Cash Minerals Ltd., now called Pitchblack Resources. The rest are registered to about 10 other companies and/or individuals.
“The government is already guilty in many peoples’ minds of fueling a staking rush in the region by not putting a moratorium on mineral staking when the land use planning process started there four years ago,” he adds.
“Now it is compounding a problem it created when it failed to act sooner by giving these very same companies and individuals a free ride for a full year at the public’s expense. That deserves some explaining, and I am all ears.”
The relief order was quietly issued by Energy, Mines and Resources minister Patrick Rouble on March 29, 2010. It applies to any mineral claims due to expire between February 4, 2010 and February 4, 2011.