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2 Tuesday June 16 2015 INDUSTRY MINING NEWS BRIEFS F i rst Nati on el ec ti ons see some new f ac es i n the D ehc ho GeraldAntoinewaselectedchiefoftheLiidliiKueFirstNa- tion in Fort Simpson last week. Elected councillors include KeleAntoinesub-chiefKatherineNahanniKristenTanche William Michaud Hilda Tsetso Allen Grossetete Lorayne Moses and Eric Menicoche. Meanwhile Herb Norwegian willserveanotherthreeyearsasGrandChiefoftheDehcho First Nations DFN after being acclaimed. A motion will make the results official at the upcoming DFN assembly in Fort Simpson on June 24-26. Suspicious fire leaves tenants of Y k s Pol ari s A partments homel ess Afireravagedthe17-suitePolarisapartmentcomplexinYel- lowknifeonSundaynightleavingallofitsoccupantshome- lessthoughunharmed.Policeandemergencyserviceswere called to the fire at 123 a.m. Sunday June 14. When they arrived the building was engulfed in flames. The building was evacuated and one occupant treated for smoke inhala- tion at Stanton Hospital. Three RCMP members were also treated. RCMP are investigating but say the fire is being considered suspicious. Lostmorelmushroomharvesterfound A mushroom picker was located safe after being reported overdue during the evening of June 11. Fort Providence RCMP responded after receiving a report from several pickers that an individual from their group was overdue. The harvesters had made plans to walk to a nearby com- munications tower in the event that one of them became lost. The harvester made it to the beacon at 3 a.m. and was reunited with her group. Richard Van Camp and Mary Cardinal will be reading from their book Kitapissin Little You at the Mary Kaeser Library from 1 to 2 pm on Saturday June 20th Refreshments will be provided. Come celeb rate N ational Ab original D ay with language R ecieve a free copy of the b ook and read it at home Sponsored by the NWT Cree Language Program Continued from page 1. The move to restructure camejustasNATCwasawaiting afinaldecisionbyEnvironment andNaturalResourcesENR MinisterMichaelMiltenberger onthecompanysproposedtail- ings management plan. On Friday June 12 Milten- berger approved the request foranamendmenttothewater licence for the Cantung mine basedonthedecisionfromthe Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. Theboardhadrecommended inMarchthattheamendments be approved conditional on modificationstothecompanys securityarrangements.While the total security deposits for mineclean-upatCantungcur- rentlyheldarearound11mil- lion the board recommended thoseberaisedto30950000 to be paid within 90 days. But in his letter last week Miltenbergersaidtheformand conditions of the security are his decision not the boards. WhileIappreciateandsup- port the timely posting of rec- lamation security I will con- tinue to take the necessary time required to ensure that Minister approves water licence amendment for Cantung mine any form of security provided under a water licence is in an acceptable form and with ap- propriateconditionsasperthe authority provided under the WatersActandassociatedreg- ulationsMiltenbergerwrote. Should this process require longerthan90daystheBoard will be notified in advance so that the Board can take any action required to modify the compliance date. Company critical of se- curity requirements NATCwhoseownestimates fortheCantungminereclama- tion were around 15 million objected to the amount of se- curitydepositsrecommended bytheboardandrequestedthe minister delay his decision on the application. Arequirementtopostsecu- rityof30.95millionwillhave grave implications for North American Tungsten poten- tiallyjeopardizingtheemploy- ment of 250 people at a mine site that contributes 80 mil- lionannuallytotheeconomy HeikkilawrotetoMiltenberger in a letter dated Mar. 26. By dramatically increasing Can- tungs security requirements theBoardhasunintentionally impairedNATCsaccesstocapi- talneedsforoperationsinthe processpre-emptingprogres- sive reclamation. At the time NATC asked for the existing Transition Rules for Existing Mines to beappliedwhichstatethatthe minister should only modify theamountofsecuritieswhen he or she feels the company is financially incapable or that doingsoisinthepublicinterest. According to NATCs own admissions a similar policy wasappliedwhenthecompany waspreviouslyundercreditor protection in 2004. Heikkilasuggestedtheissue ofsecuritiescouldberevisited whenCantungs2016waterli- cence renewal is considered. Taxpayers on the hook MLA DespiteHeikkilastempered optimism others in the NWT arent convinced that NATC will survive its current trou- bles to be able to clean up its mine sites. Unfortunatelythetaxpayer is clearly on the hook Wele- dehMLABobBromleytoldthe Journal.Theseminesarebig projects in terms of the scale of budget we deal with and the federal government failed miserablywiththeirlegislation which we mirrored. Accordingtothedepartment ofLandstheGNWTaccepted responsibilityforsitesthatwere permitted under the modern regulatory regime through devolution which included NATCs properties. GNWTs acceptance of a portfolio of sites balanced the risksandrewardsoftakingon theresponsibilityincludingthe ability to collect royalties and the authority to manage sites inawaythatreflectstheinter- ests of northerners reads an emailresponsetotheJournal. Bromley questioned the GNWTs decision to take over regulatory authority for the two mine sites and wonders if the existing 11 million in securities for Cantung will be adequate. We are left likely looking after the whole resolution of everything so there will be a lot of damage to companies and so on that are owed but I suspect that we will also the taxpayersbeshoulderingan unexpected burden once all is said and done he said. As for the companys objec- tionstotheincreasedsecurities Bromleysaidclean-upguaran- teesarepartofthecostsowed. ItslikewantingtheNorth- west Territories to pick up for thefailingglobaleconomyand subsidizefivesixthsofthecost of mining in the North on the shoulders of 43000 people he said. The cost of mining mustincludethecostofclean- up. So if a company cannot handle it they need to get in a player that has big enough dollars to do that or we need another model. PhotocourtesyofNorthAmericanTungsten North American Tungsten laid off 80 of its workers at Cantung on June 1.