Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions, as I indicated in my statement, are for the Minister of ECC.
Mr. Speaker, considering the issue noted in my statement of undersecured mine sites, can the Minister detail for the House the steps his department is currently taking to review their security estimation tool and make changes where necessary to ensure sites are not undersecured in the future? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I am sure the Member is aware, securities in the NWT are set by the land and water boards under legislation and estimates on reclamation securities are based on current versions of closure and reclamation plans which are also approved by the board. This is a multiparty process which -- and the figures are provided through an estimating process, part of which the company participates in. The exact makeup, so there are -- I am sorry, I've lost my -- the board runs a multiparty process, and as the -- I would ask the Member to repeat the question, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Member from Frame Lake, can you repeat your question.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do understand it's a pretty technical issue.
Mr. Speaker, considering the issue noted in my statement of undersecured sites, mine sites, can the Minister detail for the House the steps his department is currently taking to review their security estimation tool and make changes where necessary to ensure sites are not undersecured in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And my apologies for the earlier response.
Mr. Speaker, the tool that is used in the Northwest Territories for estimating the requirement under the security deposit is the Reclaim tool. That model that we're currently using is an old version that's been around for a number of years, and we are currently working with the Government of Canada on a revised version of that tool to improve the way in which the estimates are developed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Second question. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give us some more details, what exactly is changing in the tool? What steps are being taken to address this issue, noting that, you know, once a security estimate is put in, it can quickly become out of date as inflation takes hold and things change on a site. So can the Minister help us understand how Reclaim is being improved to help ensure that security estimates are up to date for the site in any given moment. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so the Reclaim model is based on current northern estimates, and those estimates would come from the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. And so the estimates within the tool would be brought up to more current to date estimates, and that part of that model update includes the different components that feed into that. So there is estimation and information that's provided by the proponent. That information is shared with the department. The department also contributes to that. And all of this information is then relayed to the land and water boards who ultimately set the level of security required. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am realizing this is quite a complex topic and maybe some written questions will be necessary as well.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister -- considering what I've raised with the shortcomings of security estimation, I am curious if the Minister would commit his department to researching and considering the possibility of adopting a different or additional model for reclamation security as demonstrated by jurisdictions like Western Australia and Queensland, and reporting on the results of this work to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of the other methods that have been used in other countries, such as Australia, is a pool method, where they're pooling resources. I've just provided an example here. And, you know, at our peak we had four mines in the Northwest Territories so that type of approach is not likely to work very well within the Northwest Territories, but I am happy to take that question away from the Member and get back to him with a more detailed response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
