Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all mines eventually close. Although there have been decades of closure planning exercises conducted with multiple owners, with each owner having less financial capacity than the last, there are now publicly available examples of Burgundy not being able to cover its expenses as we head to the closure of Ekati mine. Burgundy has requested extensions for all required regulatory submissions and is failing to carry out its required environmental monitoring as it cannot currently pay its contractors to complete inspection reports.
Mr. Speaker, I am not trying to pick on any particular company. What I hope Cabinet and the public understands is that this situation is an example of what can happen to companies that operate mines as they scale down and scale back, especially companies without deep pockets, which should cause all of us pause if the future of mining in the NWT is small to medium operators.
Given the legacy of historically inadequate approaches to mine closure and remediation in the NWT, including the toxic legacy that sits mere minutes away from this House, today I will be seeking clarity from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change as to what plans his department has if and when a mining company passes the buck for reclamation onto our public government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Members' statements. Member from Range Lake.
