Yukon miners laud B.C. group's name change

What's in a name? Apparently, a lot, says the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia. The Vancouver, B.C.-based nonprofit trade group changed its name in January from BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines, the moniker it has proudly used since its inception in 1912.

The new name, accompanied by a new logo, more accurately reflects the association's membership of 3,400 individuals and 100 companies and its role as the organization that represents the interests of the mineral exploration community working or based in British Columbia, according to the association's officials.

"BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines was a name that served us well for decades, but no longer represents the Association's membership or activities," association President David Caulfield said in a statement. "The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia better describes the scope of the association, the companies and people we serve and our leadership position in the mineral exploration industry.

"Re-branding the former BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines as AME BC was necessary for two main reasons," Caulfield continued. "First of all, our organization does not officially represent Yukon explorationists, as there is a local association, the Yukon Chamber of Mines, with that mandate. Finally, our membership's interests are mainly focused on mineral exploration and not mining, as our former name implied."

New name cuts down on confusion

How do Yukon mining interests react to the name change?

"We're happy with the new name and we were happy with the old name," said John Witham, president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines. "But it's nice to have our own name, and it cuts down on confusion."

The Yukon chamber has 135 corporate and 200 individual members.

Witham said he was told that British Columbia rules prohibit nonprofits from using the term, "B.C.," at the beginning of their names and that may have prompted the B.C. association to change its name.

Leaving "Yukon" out of the name may have been a follow-on decision.

"We had hoped that eventually they would change the name, but we didn't want to cause them any problems," said Joanne Hainer, the Yukon chamber's executive officer.

Hainer said the Whitehorse-based Yukon mining society, which has seen its membership more than double in the past five years, has been around since the 1940s and if an identity crisis was going to crop up between the two groups, it would have happened long ago.

"They work with us, and we work with them," she said. It was mostly our government that wanted the name changed, not us."

Having "Yukon" in the B.C. group's name "was always causing confusion," said Laurie Sthamann, mining information officer for Energy, Mines & Resources in the Yukon government.

When asked if the Yukon government had urged the B.C. association to change its name, Sthamann replied: "They didn't need any encouragement. They just knew it was time."