Yukon board recommends another Kudz Ze Kayah exploration project go ahead, with conditions

Yukon's environmental assessment board is recommending that an exploration project on BMC Minerals' Kudz Ze Kayah claims near Ross River be given the go-ahead.

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) found that the project will likely have "significant adverse effects" on caribou, bears, traditional land use and heritage resources among other things. However, the board recommends a series of terms and conditions to mitigate those effects.   

BMC is proposing a five-year quartz mineral exploration program on its Kudz Ze Kayah project, about 110 kilometres southeast of Ross River. The project is within the traditional territories of the Ross River Dena Council and the Liard First Nation.

It would involve an exploration camp to accommodate up to 120 people and construction of new trails as well as heli-pads. Airborne geophysical surveys would be done using a fixed-wing aircraft or up to three helicopters at a time.

YESAB executive director Kent Bretzlaff said many of the board's proposed terms and conditions are focused on minimizing any adverse impacts to the Finlayson caribou herd.

"You'll see there's kind of quite a few terms and conditions that speak to when you can operate, what type of operations are possible," he said.

For example, YESAB recommends the company avoid any work involving helicopters during critical periods for caribou, such as the calving and post-calving season from May to July, or rutting time from mid-September to mid-October. It also recommends minimizing any disturbance to lichen, which caribou feed on.

The animals' winter habitat, where there is an abundance of ground lichen and relatively little snow, should also be avoided, YESAB recommends.

Bretzlaff said the board received 37 different comments about the project.

Along with protections for caribou, he said a common theme in many of the recommended terms and conditions is "to inform, to communicate with the [First] Nations and others about plans" associated with the project.

YESAB's recommendation now goes to the Yukon government and Fisheries and Oceans Canada for a decision. The decision bodies can either accept, alter, or reject YESAB's recommendations.

The proposed exploration project is in the same area as a contentious BMC mine project that's been stalled in the courts for years. Local First Nations have fought against that Kudz Ze Kayah project saying they weren't properly consulted.   

In December, the Yukon appeal court sent that proposed mine project back to the consultation phase again after finding the territorial and federal governments failed to have proper conversations with Kaska Nation about the project's economic feasibility.