Tahltan: no more jade, placer gold mining

The Tahltan Central Government June 24 said it is demanding the shutdown of jade and placer gold mining in the Tahltan Territory of northern British Columbia.

The Tahltan Nation's 95,933-square-kilometer (37,040 square miles) territory covers 70 percent of B.C.'s Golden Triangle. This area has been an active placer gold producing region for more than 150 years and the nephrite jade deposits in the area are considered some of the highest quality in the world.

On June 20, Tahltan Central Government President Chad Day sent a letter to Michelle Mungall, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources and Dave Nikolejsin, Deputy Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, demanding the B.C. provincial government take immediate steps to shut down the jade and placer mining activities in the Tahltan Territory.

"We have called on the province to address unauthorized uses of access roads by jade and placer miners, and have demanded that no further jade or placer claims are issued in Tahltan Territory," said Day. "If the province is not receptive and respectful towards our requests, we will be taking all steps necessary to shut down these industries ourselves."

Tahltan Central Government said jade and placer gold mining is causing environmental degradation and being undertaken in a manner that does not respect Tahltan title and rights.

"We cannot sit back and let jade extraction and placer mining operations continue under the inadequate provincial regulatory regime. I will be personally visiting some of the active jade and placer mining sites and will be reiterating the position we have taken with the province and demanding that they shut down their activities," said Day.

Tahltan Central Government also has legal counsel engaged with the province and will force jade and placer gold mining issue into the courts if necessary.

–SHANE LASLEY