Capstone lays off another 50 workers from Minto mine

Another 50 people have been laid off at Yukon's Minto Mine in addition to the 44 people laid off in January.

Capstone Mining hasn't received the quartz mining licence or the water licence it needs to begin work on a new pit.

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Cindy Burnett, Capstone's vice-president for investor relations and communications, says everything is on hold until the licences come through.

"We don't at this point have either one of them and we can't speculate on when we might get them," she said. "The timeline is strictly based on when we receive them."

Pelly Construction provides the crew at Minto mine, 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse near PellyCrossing. It expects to keep 15 people employed at the mine, doing miscellaneous work.

Mine minister on the case

Yukon mines ministerScott Kentsays he's been working behind the scenes with Premier DarrellPasloskito speed up regulatory approvals for mining projects.

Kent says theannouncement from Capstone sends the wrong message to investors.

"I am sure there is disappointment among other people that have different projects here in the territory but that said, this is something that we committed to. We recognized the importance of it and that we are in a competitive world for attracting investment."

Kent says he doesn't have a timeline for regulatory or legislative changes, but he says they are in the works.