Yukon miner's upcoming season in limbo as he waits longer than expected for permit renewal

A Yukon placer miner says delays in the territory's permitting process could cost him his mining season this year.

Riley Gibson was born and raised in the Yukon and he co-owns a placer mining company that has been operating since 2016, first mining in the Kluane area, and now operating a site in the Duncan Creek area between Mayo and Keno City. 

Gibson said his 10-year mining permit expires this year so he applied last April for a new one through the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB), anticipating he'd have it in time for the start of the season this spring. 

According to Gibson, and confirmed by YESAB, a class 4 placer project's application can take between eight and 10 months to process. After the board reviews an application, it recommends whether a project should proceed and under what conditions. 

It's then up to a decision body — typically formed by the territorial and local First Nation governments — to approve the permit or not.

Gibson says it's been 11 months and he hasn't received a response whether his permit will be renewed or not.

He says his company employs a handful of people each year, and the longer his permit is held up, the longer it'll be before he and his employees can get back to work.

"There's very little we can do on site," Gibson said. "We can't operate any machinery, we can't do any reclamation, we can't maintain any diversions of Duncan Creek we've done. These things need to be monitored. We can't do anything if we don't get this decision document."

Gibson explained that once the mining permit is granted, he then has to apply for a water licence through the Yukon Water Board, something he said could take up to four months if everything goes smoothly.

At this rate, Gibson said if he doesn't get his permits now, he and his crew may have to find work elsewhere this summer.

"We've been trying to talk to everybody as respectfully as we can and it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere," Gibson said. "I feel there's a lot of complacency and indifference in the permitting process right now and it's letting a lot of people down.

"We're not fancy, rich miners. We're just trying to make a living."

Working through the backlog

Kent Bretzlaff, YESAB's executive director, said recommendations for Gibson's application were issued to the decision body on Dec. 9.

Bretzlaff said he understands how Gibson is feeling but that he isn't the only proponent waiting in queue for an application to get processed. He said the number of placer mining projects increases on a yearly basis, and his staff are doing their best to keep up but sometimes there are delays. 

"We have double the amount of placer projects in our process now than we did this time last year," Bretzlaff said.

Bretzlaff said in the past two months, his office has received 42 project applications.

"The reality is, we keep getting more and more projects," Bretzlaff said. "We'll be as transparent as we can about expectations but for proponents, I encourage them to reach out to us too, to understand what's going on."

Bretzlaff said YESAB has done its part and now the decision for Gibson's placer mining permit lies in the hands of the decision body — the Yukon government, and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

Jay Chou, acting director with mineral resources branch of Yukon's department of Energy, Mines, and Resources, said that Gibson's application is still being discussed and he could not provide any details or timelines for when a decision will be issued.

He said it has taken longer than expected but it's important to ensure First Nation governments are involved with the process and sometimes more time is needed to come to a decision.

"The legislative timelines to issue a decision document under the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economical Assessment Act is 30 days," Chou said. "On average over the last few years, for the decision document for placer projects, we're seeing an average of 60 days or so."

Chou said his department is actively working on Gibson's file, as well as many others at this time.

He said on average his department consults on approximately 500 to 600 different projects a year.

CBC News also reached out to the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun for comment but nobody responded before publication.