A gold mine south of Prince Rupert, B.C., is now the subject of a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed against the provincial government.
“They invested money in good faith in British Columbia, hoping to bring jobs and prosperity here, and instead have ended up in this place where they can’t do anything and that’s simply not acceptable,” Joan Young, a lawyer at McMillan LLP, told Global News.
The Yellow Giant mine on Banks Island began commercial production in 2015, but was shut down by the province that same year after releasing excess tailings and effluent.
In the lawsuit, MCC Canadian Gold Ventures says after the original owner went bankrupt they were lobbied by the province to take over the mine, and did in 2019. However, after investing millions to clean it up, the province in 2024, without warning, suspended the company’s mining rights through orders in council.
“They get told after the fact that there’s been kind of a secret arrangement and you can’t go ahead and that’s not, from their perspective, the way we should be doing business in British Columbia,” Young said.
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The suit claims the province made the move to help settle a separate legal dispute with the Gitxaala Nation.
The mine is on Gitxaala territory and it came in the aftermath of the Nation’s successful challenge of the province’s mining claims regime.
A notice of civil claim reads: “The province acquired significant advantages and benefits from the taking of MCC’s property interests” and therefore “avoided significant environmental liability” and “resolution and partial settlement of existing litigation with the Gitxaala Nation.”
The plaintiffs say they have no issue with the Gitxaala; this is purely about the province’s alleged actions and as the NDP government pursues more mining investment, this fight could send a conflicting message.
“You have investors in place here that chose to invest in British Columbia, that played by the rules to this point; they expect and frankly deserve a fair shake, and they haven’t received that; the opposite has happened,” Todd Stone with the BC Association for Mineral Exploration said.
In a statement to Global News, Chief Councillor Linda Innes of Gitxaała Nation stated that: “The Notice of Claim from MCC against the Province of British Columbia is the latest example of what can happen when projects move forward without consultation and consent from First Nations.
“It underscores why clarity and certainty are needed from the outset for First Nations, governments and proponents alike. Getting this right early helps avoid difficult and uncertain processes after considerable time, energy and resources have already been invested.
“We urge B.C. and MCC to move forward in a good way and find a path to resolving the matter.”
I would tell them to sue the Gitxaala Nation but then that would just cause us taxpayers to pay even more. When will BC realize that DRIPA is bankrupting us. I hope MCC Gold wins and makes the province pay. They can pay the fine from the handouts we regularily give.
And the taxpayer will pay on this one.
This is the cost of doing business in a province governed by the far-left.
A company chooses to cut corners and release mining effluent (toxic) into a communities fresh water. They pay millions to clean it up, then their licence is canceled. Had the licence been cancelled prior to the clean up – they would have claimed bankruptcy and it would have been left for the taxpayer to clean up. A division was made to remove the companies licence after the clean up. (Cleaned up your article for you).
So because the natives used to hunt and fish near there, the people who paid for the rights to mine have to stop? Read any of the treaties. Canada has the right to do whatever in the lands they ceded to Canada.
There are only 450 members that live on reserve (I am getting different numbers, but close) And they live on an island, nowhere near where the mining is.
This is all about the silly drippa nonsense. – get rid of it, and the problem goes away.