A B.C.-based exploration company, chaired by Canadian diamond-finder Chuck Fipke, has big summer plans for the eastern Yukon, including parts of the Peel watershed.
Cantex Mine Development recently applied to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board to build two temporary camps – one at the Rackla airstrip, just south of the Peel border, and the other at Macmillan Pass, on the North Canol Road.
From the two camps, it plans to use helicopters to carry out “a sampling and possibly staking program” within a 200-kilometre radius, the Kelowna company said in documents recently filed with the Mayo and Watson Lake YESAB offices.
“The actual sampling will take place in a radius of about 200 kilometres from the camp location and will consist mostly of 10-kg stream sediment samples collected by hand,” said company rep Arnold Bauslaugh in an email that accompanied the proposals.
The Yukon government's Peel staking ban expires May 4.
In its submission, Cantex said the camps would each have a kitchen tent, a shower tent and up to six four-man sleeping tents. Helicopter fuel would be flown from Mayo by chartered airplane to the Rackla camp and trucked to the Mac Pass camp. About 19 205-litre drums would be stored at the each site. It would burn as much garbage as possible and send the rest to the Mayo landfill.
Other than that, the company provided few details. Many of the questions on the 32-page standard YESAB form were simply left blank.
It completely ignored all questions about Yukon First Nations. That included one about which traditional territory or territories would be affected by its project and another about its proximity to settlement land.
Asked if it had contacted the affected First Nations, it said no, and skipped over the next question on heritage resources.
It also said the project required no water use and left the rest of water section unanswered.
According to the company there are no other land users in the region such as trappers, hunters, plant/berry harvesters or recreational users. It also said its project won't overlap with any trapping or hunting concessions.
As for wildlife, it said “none known, bears, caribou assumed to be in general area” and said it wasn't aware of any key wildlife or environmentally sensitive places in the region.
In a response to the submissions, Yukon assessors told the company they're going to need a lot more information.
Especially problematic is the 200-kilometre radius sampling program, they said.
“This makes the spatial scope of the project complex to assess,” writes the Mayo office. “Narrowing the scope of the project, and therefore assessment, to reasonably defined areas within your claim blocks will allow more appropriate consideration of the effected values.”
The board needs detailed maps of the proposed camps, a list of the company’s mineral claims and an explanation of where work is expected to occur.
It’s asked for “a complete list of the expected maximum level of ground and air based activities associated with your camp and exploration program.” That means how many helicopter and fixed wing flights on a daily and weekly basis and what route they plan to use.
And it's requested more details about “any watercourses or drainages that will be affected by your planned sampling program” as well as where the company plans to take water for camp use.
The company should contact the other land users – First Nations, other mineral claim holders, trappers and hunting companies, said the board. Any agreements made or permissions granted should be communicated to assessors.
Cantex arrived in the Yukon in 2011. That summer it told investors it had staked 86 claims in the Rackla region and collected 2,315 heavy metal samples in a 30,000-sq.km. area of “prospective ground.”
In 2012 it said in a news release it had staked another 1,300 claims and collected 1,392 more samples on “staked and unstaked ground” without giving any other geographical specifics.
To date, its financial statements show it’s spent $3.4 million on its Yukon exploration project. It also has gold plays in Yemen and Nevada.
Cantex is currently trading on the Toronto Venture Exchange for 2 cents a share.
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