Slinky Mine applies for 10-year permit for claims near Dome Road in Dawson City

A mine owner has applied for a 10-year permit to mine new claims in Dawson City, but the Yukon NDP says a deal last year should have put an end to mining in area.

Slinky Mine'sDarrellCareyfought with city officials for years to get at the gold under Dawson City'sDome Road, withthe Yukon government eventually agreeing to re-route the road at a cost of$1.3 million. NowCarey has applied for a 10-year permit to mine 31 new claims on the eastern side of the road.

Jim Tredger, NDP MLA, wants to know why the government is entertaining Carey's request to mine these new claims.

"The government's settlement is nexttouseless and the people of Dawson are right back where they started, wondering whether there will be a new mine operating in their backyard once again," Tredger said.

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Scott Kent says Carey's claims were made before thenew municipal boundaries.

Kent says there's nothing the Yukon government can do about valid claims going before the Yukon Environmental and Scoio-economic Assesment Board (YESAB).He said the NDP isn't offering a reasonable alternative.

"Would they expropriate mineral rights from existing claim holders or would they compensate those claim holders for the economic loss that would exist?"

Kent wouldn't comment on Carey'sspecific case because it's still before YESAB.