Territory’s pro-mining image is fading: survey
The Yukon’s reputation as a jurisdiction favourable to the exploration and mining industry is falling off, but so is Canada’s reputation as a whole.
The Yukon’s reputation as a jurisdiction favourable to the exploration and mining industry is falling off, but so is Canada’s reputation as a whole.
The annual survey of mining companies by the Fraser Institute released this week indicates Canada still remains in the top three countries in the world, behind Australia and Europe.
But none of the territories or provinces were in the top 10 jurisdictions to invest. There were four in 2018, including the Yukon.
Samson Hartland, executive director of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, said Thursday the Yukon’s fall from grace is tied to the uncertainty companies face in the regulatory and permitting regime.
“We have been saying for some time now that these issues need to be resolved so we can give industry the confidence to invest in the Yukon,” he said.
Hartland said the territory’s endowment of mineral resources is still the envy of the world.
But when it comes to investing their money, companies want certainty, they want to know what the rules are, and they want to know what kind of time lines they’re facing to secure the required permits, he suggested.
Hartland said the chamber and the local industry know what needs to be done to improve the investment climate here. And they’ll be focusing on those matters as they work through the Yukon Mineral Development Strategy announced last fall, he said.
A joint statement issued Thursday by the chamber and the Yukon Producers Group – a group of companies that are leaders in the Yukon’s mining and exploration industry – expresses deep concern about the finding in the survey.
The statement urges the Yukon government to get on with addressing the uncertainty, and to make good on commitments to improve infrastructure like key roadways.
“This is terrible news for Yukoners at any time, but particularly so as the survey results were released on the eve of arguably the world’s largest mining convention, PDAC, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, being held in Toronto in a matter of days,” reads the statement.
“These troubling figures unfortunately send the wrong message to the international financing community, in an environment in which Yukon operators are competing with projects from around the world to secure investment.” (See full statement, p. 15.)
The convention begins this weekend.
The survey, for instance, found the Yukon is ranked 23 out of 76 jurisdictions around the world in investment attractiveness. Five years ago, it was in the top, along with Quebec and Saskatchewan.
“Regulatory duplication and inconsistencies in the Yukon is a major concern for investors,” says the president of an exploration company who is quoted in the survey, but not identified.
The Yukon Party used the annual survey to dump all over the territorial Liberal government.
It’s time the Liberals live up to their commitments to “return certainty to our primary private sector employer,” Yukon Party mining critic Scott Kent said in a statement released Thursday.
“To put things in perspective, when assessing uncertainty concerning environmental regulations, the survey ranked the Yukon below Mexico and only slightly higher than the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
Kent said the survey results send a troubling message to the international mining conference in Toronto.
The survey shows the Yukon is ranked fifth in investment attractiveness among the 13 Canadian jurisdictions.
Comments (25)
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Obi on Mar 5, 2020 at 10:48 pm
Our pixie dust Prime Minister, and his party has struck again.
It has just been announced that the Quebec LNG 9 billion dollar project, just lost a 4 billion dollar investment partner. Warren Buffett is cancelling his companies participation in this project because, “Over the past month a clear signal has been sent by Canada that the rule of law will not be upheld, and major projects cannot be built here”.
Since they have come to power the Liberals have directly caused the loss of over 150 billion dollars of much needed economic investment in Canada. Instead we have division, and anarchy, by visible minorities that are running our courts and our country.
And all we get are platitudes from our drama teacher leader like, “it’s disturbing”, and it’s unfortunate, and we must be patience.” Wow!
“Bring the flood now Lord, I’m ready”.......
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Wes on Mar 5, 2020 at 6:02 pm
So Joe Campbell, try as I might, I’d don’t see any reference in the article for a mine taking 25 years to get approvals. Hyperbole or do you have a specific example in mind?
So, you reckon mine approvals should be streamlined? Maybe adopt a third world model?
And you’re right, our children and grandchildren will be paying off a massive debt, just not the one you think you’re alluding to. Just look at the BYG Nansen cleanup costs, never mind Faro.
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Wilf Carter on Mar 5, 2020 at 12:42 am
The question is can mining or any other resource company or for that matter do business in the Yukon. If not, we are done until it is changed.
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Len Bath on Mar 4, 2020 at 7:09 pm
Fraser Institute = Koch brothers = right wing = bad
The usual town criers are not mentioning much about Coffee Gold. Gold is where you find it and Coffee/Newmont found it in spite of all the rigors mentioned as excuses by the losers. The Wolverine mine is the 'Yukon Party' legacy mine where as the new Coffee Gold mine is a Liberal legacy mine. Get digging!
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Politico on Mar 4, 2020 at 1:29 pm
@Yukoner5 JC shows true CONservative colours. Tell a lie often enough people will accept it as truth!
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Yukoner5 on Mar 3, 2020 at 10:17 pm
@JC I literally posted a link to StatsCan in my last post. So I'm showing where I got my stats. You on the other hand just said "everything you said is wrong" with literally nothing to back it up. Perhaps before you scream "Liberals are bad! I saw a meme on Facebook!" you should try to actually look into the facts and verify that which sounds ridiculous because it usually is.
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steve on Mar 3, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Saying the Fraser institute is top notched is a laugh but then that's true for most left or right leaning think tanks.
Any time the Fraser institute puts something out run for the hills hahaha. It is so biased and when you ask them on how they come up with their numbers and figures or did they factor in certain criteria or why they left it out, they come up with a lame excuse.
Try it sometime and question them on where they get their facts and figures. You may also be surprised at what they leave out. Also ask them to provide a transparent list of ALL donations and watch them respond.
As to Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute comments, he is giving Pinocchio a run for his money.
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Miles Epanhauser on Mar 2, 2020 at 4:42 pm
Let's be honest here, mines leave masses that taxpayers usually have to clean up. Please tell me I am wrong.
Compare this to trapping which is sustainable and tourism and the only conclusion is that the mining industry is bad and they get away with it time after time.
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Ray Al Itty on Mar 2, 2020 at 4:30 pm
Bonjour Monsieur - RWP: I wonder which Canadian think tank your opinion comes from?
A word or two on the Fraser Institute:
The Fraser Institute is the top think-tank in Canada for the tenth straight year and ranks in the top 25 among all think-tanks worldwide, according to the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index published by the University of Pennsylvania and released recently in Washington, D.C.
The annual index ranks the Fraser Institute first among 100 think-tanks in Canada and 21st out of more than 7,800 think-tanks around the world.
Among independent think-tanks, which the University of Pennsylvania report defines as having independence from any one interest group or donor and autonomous in its operation and funding from government, the Fraser Institute ranks 11th best worldwide.
“We take great pride in our independence—the Fraser Institute accepts no government funding, does not engage in contract research and relies entirely on donations from a diverse base of thousands of individuals, family foundations and other organizations, none of whom has any influence on our work,” said Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute.
But hey, let us go with the Liberals/Liberal’s bias... It's not like it has never done any damage to anyone ever... LOL! OMG!
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Atom on Mar 2, 2020 at 2:22 pm
And it keeps going round and round....'our children are going to have to pay off the national debt', 'taxpayers pay for the messes left behind by mining companies', it's just politics.
If you are not happy with your lot in life, make a change. Don't troll the newspaper (I know, I'm a troll) with criticisms, when who can really affect change to help everyone and when has that ever happened anyway, anywhere?
Be like Leef and his fast runnin buddy, McHale, who poached in the Rubies and got off scot free with fast talk and high paid lawyers...made grand statements, they just did what they wanted.
In other words do what you want and to hell with everybody else.
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Davis on Mar 2, 2020 at 10:09 am
Until we can figure out how to allow mining in the Yukon without screwing over the environment and Yukoners in the long run (leaving tax payers to clean up the remediation costs once the companies go bankrupt seems common practice now) I'm more than fine with leaving all our resources in the ground.
As long as the Yukon keeps getting over 1 billion dollars a year in federal transfer payments there is really not much incentive to promote mining, realistically it's just a drop in the bucket and doesn't contribute much to our economy. If ever our transfer payments stop I suspect 95% of the current Yukon population will move down south. Private industry loves to complain about all the government workers in the Yukon but without all those government workers we would have no one up here to buy from our private businesses to support them.
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Real world perspective on Mar 1, 2020 at 10:11 pm
First off, the Fraser Institute is a right wing think tank group, really what else are they supposed to come up with? Structure your questions just right and ask the right groups and you get what you want. There is an old trick that neo cons use when they are trying to take back real power. So Samson and the other miners want to take this opportunity to make the regs even more useless, good god they can pretty much do whatever they want now. The the so called Yukon Party chimes in, the same party that has exministers as directors of mining companies, the same companies that they greased the rails for when they were in power. I think the vast majority of Yukoners see through that folly and know that that party is only interested in benefiting themselves and friends, The average working man is not in their plans. We'll stick with the Liberals, thanks.
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O. Emgee! on Mar 1, 2020 at 9:40 pm
Yep - Thank a regressive Liberal for all of this. Oh the doublespeak ironies - Progressive while implementing regressive policies; claiming to be for equality while implementing policies that that erode the rights of all Canadians; claiming diversity is our strength while shutting down the economy to push the diversity agenda. WTF is wrong with “all” you people?
Heave ho Trudeau has got to go!
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JC on Mar 1, 2020 at 9:24 pm
And you know folks, the Liberals got back in even after all the corruption they engaged in over the last 4 years. So, who voted them back in? Did Obama, Suzuki, George Soros and the rest of their ilk have something to do with it?
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JC on Mar 1, 2020 at 9:21 pm
Moose, where are you getting your information from? Everything you said is false. I believe its you that's being lied to.
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Obi on Mar 1, 2020 at 2:11 pm
“The Pixie Dust Rebellion”
I believe that the left wing ideology is directly responsible for the present state of affairs in Canada.
The David Suzuki Church of Climatology that wants all fossil fuels banned without any ideas of how we are to live in the mean time, or what work is available to blue collar workers to raise family’s etc.
This ideology has been taken up by our education system, so that we have had thirty years of spoon fed, one belief only children sent out into the real world to man the, barricades of socialistic change, without any solution or strategy to replace our present system, because they were never taught that.
Time will place the blame for our damaged Canada, at the feet of the Liberals, NDP, Green and all the other groups, that have fought for the destruction of our economy, without a clue between them how taxes are to be created, (and don’t say the millionaires of Canada who are already paying for most of our taxes), or what jobs will be created to match the revenues paid by the oil, and Mining companies.
Teck Resources cancelling their proposed mine, that would have employed 7000 Canadians, and given millions to the 14 Native bands that wanted it, was cheered by Suzuki, who said “Awesome, that’s great news” before he heads off to one of his five homes, without a mention of the lives or jobs he has destroyed.
Welcome to 2020 Canada. The world thinks we are a joke and nobody wants to Invest here anymore, because we are led not by the majority, but by the minority of pixie dust losers...
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Moose on Feb 29, 2020 at 6:36 pm
@Jim Ok, so you say we are losing investment Canada wide, yet according to Stats Canada, outside investment in Canada is UP 20% in 2019 (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610002501). We also have the lowest unemployment rate in about 40 years. So where exactly are you getting your data that states otherwise? Sorry to say, but you are being lied to bud.
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Groucho d'North on Feb 29, 2020 at 4:12 pm
Lately it appears that Canada has jumped off the high board and we are plunging back to the agrarian age of the 18th century.
I wonder how many protesters have had to live a life free from the benefits of petroleum products to power our transportation needs? Or a life without cell phones because mining for the minerals that make them will become illegal to extract? How will the beans for their $9 coffee get from the hills of South America to where the majority of consumers consume?
The green movement has mastered hyperbole so the sheep believe what they are told by those with an anti-something agenda. Case in point. All the angst and bad feelings related to the pipeline project to move natural gas to market is getting all the attention while just south of Vancouver, the Roberts Bank Coal port is still shipping tonnes of dirty coal to China to burn in their electrical plants. Which is dirtier for the atmosphere? Why not address the primary polluters? Freight ships moving the products from China and other eastern manufacturers to the western consumers burn bunker fuel- one of the dirtiest fuels available.
Too much misinformation is being swallowed by gullible people who want to make things better- it's a worthy cause, I wish they would focus on making their protests more focused on the right targets.
Lord save us from our saviours.
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Dave on Feb 29, 2020 at 2:25 pm
As long as southern Canadians can keep getting hoodwinked into paying Yukoners tabs through the federal governments grant each year I imagine this will continue. Everyone is fat and happy living off the welfare state dime and until the day comes that we have to pay our own way and people started to see services disappear, I don’t think they’d put two and two together as far as resource extraction is concerned.
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Grant overton on Feb 29, 2020 at 12:36 pm
I thought that back in the late 1980"s the indigenous people signed a land claims agreement where every indigenous person received a large settlement. How many times do we have to pay the indigenous people for the same land use? In BC the Prosperity mine cost investors millions in research and development and road improvements. Only to have the federal agreement blocked by BC protesters that the mine would never impact for jobs and Community survival. These mines keep our communities growing and prosperous. I say pay no more. As long as the mining regulations are in place and Monitored, bring it on. We need the growth in the north.
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Jim on Feb 29, 2020 at 9:06 am
This is nothing new but it’s become alarmingly clear that we are losing investment appeal country wide. I imagine the Yukon is ambivalent about it somewhat, and we can probably survive on our federal welfare cheque every year. But as this is happening country wide that cheque may not be there.
The Canadian multi tiered governments make any kind of approval for resource development next to impossible. Just look to B.C. with their supposed poster child for “consultation” with the massive LNG project which now hangs in limbo because of 5 hereditary chiefs. The National rail system is has been held ransom for almost a month with no end in site, and a government froze on how to enforce the law.
I think investors are realizing that any project that will require federal, provincial, municipal, multiple First Nations, multiple hereditary chiefs is complex and most likely doomed. I am not sure Nations within a Nation government interaction will ever work properly. Somewhere we have to have a democracy where projects can go ahead where not every group is getting their way. There will always be groups that will rally against any kind of resource development. Unfortunately the government we have now is using the idea that if nothing happens, nobody can get hurt or mad.
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My Opinion on Feb 29, 2020 at 2:32 am
Canada as a whole, under these Liberal governments is doing its best to destroy economies and development.
Just where will people work, earn money and pay taxes to support Government programs?
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Joseph campbell on Feb 28, 2020 at 5:32 pm
25 years to develop a mine is totally unrealistic and ridiculous. All environmental assessments should be done in no more than 2 years. Canadians need jobs, the government needs taxes and the world needs minerals. All the lolly gagging just puts the nation more in debt. The millennials better understand that they, their children, their grandchildren and theirs will have to pay off the massive debt.
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Allan Stanley on Feb 28, 2020 at 5:20 pm
MEH - leave it all in the ground for now.
It will be worth TEN TIMES as much in 20 years.
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Wes on Feb 28, 2020 at 4:37 pm
Well, if that’s what it takes to keep out the Wolverine mines and keep the Vic Golds, I’m all for it. Try harder Scott.