$65 in gold royalties

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Published on Friday, 05 October 2018 11:40

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$65 in gold royalties r1 Isn't owning a gold mine supposed to be profitable? ...

Sitting on a gold mine is supposed to make you rich... isn't it?

Well, half the gold that was dredged out of Yukon rivers and wetlands last year was on Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in land, but for that First Nation, royalties last year amounted to less than a tank of gas.

"It’s still back in the Wild West,” chief Roberta Joseph told The Narwhal.

The entire Yukon government haul in royalties was ten times less than it brought in in camping fees.

How does this happen?

The royalty system is based on 1906 Gold Rush legislation — and the price of gold hasn't changed in that law. It's still $15. That's 100 times less than the actual current price of gold.

Meanwhile placer mining is having real effects on the aquatic and riparian ecosystems where it happens.

“You basically have to destroy the stream that the gold is in,” says Lewis Rifkind of the Yukon Conservation Society.

There's a lot more to this story from deputy editor Jimmy Thomson. You can read the rest of it here — and scroll down for more.

Emma Gilchrist
Editor-in-Chief, The Narwhal

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