Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the last conversation, I have to say kudos to the RCMP for the job they’re doing. They’re doing a great job lately.
My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Lands. I want to follow up on some questions that I asked to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources last week. The Minister of ENR, in answering questions to me about the Cantung Mine, indicated that there is about $11.6 million held in financial security for the Cantung Mine.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Lands what form that security is in. We have several different kinds of security which we can hold. I’d like to know how this $11.6 million is held.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we are holding $11.6 million, but as per the form, I would have to confirm that and share it with the Member.
Thanks to the Minister. I’ll take that commitment. My information is that out of the $11.6 million that about $5 million is in promissory notes. I think promissory notes as an accepted form of security for the liability and reclamation of a mine are not worth very much. Next to worthless is my understanding.
I’d like to ask the Minister, if some of this security is promissory notes, would he consider asking the company to change them to an irrevocable letter of credit, which does have great value, as opposed to a promissory note which has very little value?
Part of our process now, plenty of security is set. Our division at Lands will negotiate with the proponent the form of security. There has been some concerns in the past, raised with promissory notes and other forms of security that is believed doesn’t hold much weight. So, we will negotiate with them.
As for the actual figures on this one again, I will confirm those figures and share it with the Member and if there’s an opportunity to renegotiate that, I mean, they’re in a situation right now where I don’t know how difficult it would be for us or make it difficult for us to negotiate with them, but I will get those figures and I will share them with the Members. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would say, considering the situation that North American Tungsten is in, it’s imperative that we check what kind of security we have and probably ensure that we have security that is going to assist us in reclamation if they go under.
To the Minister: I’d like to know, we hold $11.6 million in whatever form of security, but how much is the reclamation going to cost for this particular development, this particular mine? Can the Minister advise us what the estimate of the reclamation is and what kind of liability we would estimate we have for this particular property?
I wouldn’t have those figures. It’s too early right now. I think we’d have to do an assessment of the potential reclamation costs. So it is fairly early right now. We are holding $11.6 million, but as for the rest of it, again, it is fairly early and we will have an opportunity to do an assessment to see what the actual reclamation costs may be. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister: I’m a little surprised that we haven’t yet done an assessment. I would have thought that once we took over the ownership of a property, and apparently we now have responsibility for the Cantung Mine, that an assessment would be done so that we’d know what kind of liability we’re looking at.
So, in terms of this assessment, if it has not been done, when will it be done, and if there is a variation in the amount of liability required by the assessment and the amount of liability we hold, will the Minister aggressively renegotiate the agreement that we have with North American Tungsten? Thank you.
We will commit as a government, as a Department of Lands, that going forward we will aggressively negotiate all future land lease securities. I think because we have the authority now, it’s more important that we do our due diligence. I do know in June of this year there was a water licence amendment for the mine and I think the revised security amount was set at $30 million. So again, we will do our due diligence and I will confirm these figures and share them with the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
