Infograms, Royalties and Technical Papers

Abandoned Mines

This presentation is focused on financial, not environmental, impacts - what happens when a mining company can't pay the bills? Who's on the hook for the cleanup? Which Yukon mines are currently abandoned or in danger of it? And what can concerned citizens do?

Click on the image to get the presentation that was done on Tue Jan 29, 2019 (PDF format, 2MB). A second presentation (very similar to the first) will be done on Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at the Whitehorse Public Library from 6:30-8 PM

Infograms

YCS has developed some infograms (information sheets) about water contamination caused by mining. These are intended to familarize concerned citizens with what levels of contaminants in water that comes from mine sites that companies should be aiming for. They represent the Maximum Authorized Concentration in a Grab Sample that should be authorized. Sometimes mines refer to the Maximum Authorized Monthly Mean Concentration. This is typically half of what these infograms show. NOTE: These concentrations are not municipal water drinking standards...instead they are essentially end-of-pipe water standards for an operating mine, and they represent the very maximum. Most mines should be aiming for levels below what these infograms show. 

The figures used in the infograms are from Column four of the Canadian Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER): Maximum Authorized Concentration in a Grab Sample (Column Four is the highest number of the MMER regs)...except for Selenium which is from Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Water Quality Guidelines for the protection of Aquatic Life.

Contaminants addressed include the most common environmental contaminants associated with Yukon mining operations:

•             Arsenic (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Copper (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Cyanide (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Lead (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Nickel (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Selenium (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Zinc (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Total Suspended Solids (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

•             Radium (with YCS logo / without YCS logo)

If you want higher quality images, or PDF versions, contact the Yukon Conservation Society mining analyst.

Royalties

YCS does an occassional op-ed piece in the Yukon News. These pieces have focussed on royalties. Here are some recent ones:

• June 2017 "Mining, Taxation, and the Free Lunch"
• Wed Jan 20, 2016 'Hard luck on those hard rock royalties' 
• Wed Jun 10, 2015 'Mining Savings For A Rainy Day'
• Wed May 20, 2015 ​'The Wealth We Give Away' 
• Fri Sep 9, 2011 'Raise The Royalty Rates'

Further to the newspaper articles, there are a couple of papers and submissions to government that migth be of interest to those concerned with the Yukon mining royalty regime:

• Yukon Mining Royalties - a YCS perspective (done in May 2008 but still valid).
• Raise The Royalty Rates - examines the low Yukon mineral royalty rates and tries to analyze the new Federal transfer agreement.
• Yukon Royalty Rates- looks at how low Yukon royalty rates are in light of a NRCan study.
• YCS Comments on Proposed Yukon Quartz Mining Act Royalty Regulations - this was done in June 23, 2009

Technical Papers

U.S. COPPER PORPHYRY MINES: The track record of water quality impacts resulting from pipeline spills, tailings failures and water collection and treatment failures.
EARTHWORKS, July 2012 (Revised 11/2012). Posted with permision of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance.

Acid Mine Drainage: David Coil, PhD1, Erin McKittrick, M.S.2, Andrew Mattox3, Niki Hoagland4, Bretwood "Hig" Higman, PhD5, Kendra Zamzow6, contact@groundtruthtrekking.org, Last Modified: 18th January 2013. Posted with permission of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance.

Photo Gallery