Latest news with #MineralResourcesAct
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
N.S. minister could override owners who don't want uranium exploration on their land
If a Nova Scotia landowner doesn't want uranium exploration to happen on their property, does no mean no? Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton has confirmed that he could step over property owners to let companies hunt for uranium, but he said he isn't keen to do so. "Right now we're encouraging landowners and the researchers to have the conversations, that's where it needs to start," Rushton told reporters Thursday following a cabinet meeting in Halifax. Earlier this year, the Progressive Conservative government lifted a long-standing ban on uranium exploration and extraction. Two weeks ago, it put out a call for companies to explore in three areas with known uranium deposits. Rushton has previously said that landowners have to agree, but he is now acknowledging that a rarely used legal clause could be applied if parties can't come to a deal. "They would have to prove to me that they've had the negotiations … before we'd ever intervene," Rushton said. WATCH| Property owners 'stunned' to learn their property could be explored for uranium: Rushton has invoked Section 26 of the Mineral Resources Act once in his four-year tenure as natural resources minister. A mining company asked the province last year to intervene to allow for lithium exploration on a property in southwest Nova Scotia, and Rushton granted the request in January. He said in that case, the landowners and mining company were in negotiations that had reached a stalemate. That's the only time the Houston government has used the provision. It had been used just one other time in the past two decades. "This is not something that we're looking at to be [used] on every case," Rushton said. He said he hopes landowners will want to know what's under their land, not just for the sake of mining but for their own health. Natural uranium deposits can leach into groundwater, including drinking water, and they can release radon into buildings. NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Rushton needs to be more clear about when he would intervene. "There are going to be a lot of conversations where a company approaches someone and says, 'I want to use your land,' and the landowner says, 'No,'" she said. "I don't think that's going to be an extraordinary event." Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said if he were minister, he would never invoke Section 26, and he hopes Rushton won't either. He said "consultation is key" for avoiding conflicts as the province pushes for more resource development, but he said the government has been lacking on that front. Mombourquette pointed to local officials and landowners not receiving notice before the province opened bids for uranium exploration, and Mi'kmaw leaders not being consulted before fracking and uranium bans were lifted. The province is expected to announce details of exploration permits for uranium this summer. MORE TOP STORIES
CBC
27-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
New mining legislation for N.W.T. expected to come into force in 2027
Some long-awaited, and contentious, mining legislation is expected to come into effect in the N.W.T. in 2027. The timeline of the Mineral Resources Act was presented during a public briefing of the territory's economic development and environment committee on Wednesday. The presentation was delivered by Caitlin Cleveland, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, along with deputy minister Pamela Strand and assistant deputy minister Menzie McEachern. McEachern talked of some the benefits that could come from the act, including more publicly-available technical information, increased transparency with the public registry, increased monitoring of production and increased access to exploration rights with online map staking. "One of the key benefits is that there is increased opportunities for relationship-building and knowledge-sharing between mineral exploration and mining companies and Indigenous governments and organisations," he said. "Historically, we know that information may not have been a focus in the industry, and local people often didn't know exactly what was happening on their traditional lands. Times, of course, have changed and information is being shared as we speak." McEachern said that once the new regulations are in place, the sharing process will be formalized and information will be required to be shared throughout a mining project's life cycle. Industry concerns Following the presentation on Wednesday, MLAs had the chance to ask questions. "As the minister knows, I've heard from constituents who are involved in the MRA [Mineral Resources Act] development process that the active mines that we have in the Northwest Territories would not be allowed under the revised MRA," said Kate Reid, MLA for Great Slave. "So can the minister explain why this may be?" Strand, the deputy minister, says the act is not designed to have a negative impact on current mining operations. She said the department is currently in the process of finding a way to smoothly transition from the old legislation to the new. "The intention is that the currently operating mines are continuing to operate, on day one of the Mineral Resources Act coming into force. So there's a lot of misinformation, I think, circulating around," Strand said. Cleveland said she has heard concerns from the industry on things like benefit agreements and royalties. Benefit agreements are negotiated between mining companies and Indigenous governments or communities where those companies want to operate. Burgundy Diamond Mines, the company that runs the Ekati mine, sent a letter to the N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson in the fall asking for a guarantee the government would grandfather in its pre-existing impact-benefit agreements, when it changes the act. That would be instead of requiring new agreements which could force Burgundy to pay more to communities and Indigenous groups affected by the mine. The Mineral Resources Act was actually passed in 2019 but regulations need to be developed before it could be implemented.
