Yukon gov't departments disagree on controversial mining application

Environment Yukon is disputing claims by the territory's Energy, Mines and Resources department that a placer mining operation near Judas Creek subdivision can go ahead without long term consequences.

Their differences are laid out in submissions to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

Nicolai Goeppel has applied to develop a placer mine on 45 claims that overlap four tributaries of Judas Creek, 4.5 kilometres north of Jake's Corner on the Alaska Highway, and about 80 kilometres southeast of Whitehorse.

The Environment department says the claims overlap, or are surrounded by, high quality habitat for the Carcross caribou herd. The department says the claims make up part of the herd's core winter range and are on its migration route.

A recovery program for caribou in the Southern Lakes area has been in effect since 1992. In that time, their population grew from 400 caribou to roughly 800 in 2008, according to Environment Yukon.

The Energy, Mines and Resources department says any damage caused by the placer mining can be repaired by "progressive reclamation," to be undertaken each season in addition to the final cleanup at the end of the operation.

But the Environment department says there's no assurance the lichen the caribou rely on for their diet "would ever re-establish." It usually only grows in mature forests, the department says, and in Yukon that could take 80 to 100 years.

"This project represents a high risk to the Carcross Caribou Herd and ongoing recovery efforts," the department says, in its recommendation that the placer application be denied.

YESAB's recommendation on the plan is expected sometime in the next month.

Goeppel could not be reached for comment.