Letters to the Editor land claims not dividing Yukon mining

Your issue of Oct 3, carried an article by Nancy Campbell describing some of the land claim concerns in the Yukon Territory (Land claims settlement divides Yukon mining industry.)

While much of the article is accurate, as far as present knowledge allows, the Yukon Chamber of Mines would like to clarify a few points which might otherwise mislead your readers.

Your headline states that the Yukon mining industry is divided over land claims but the article gives no instance of division except to quote a brief statement by a federal spokesman. The point of argument was said to be over a statement of mine to the effect that “natives will not have any interest in exploiting mineral wealth on their lands.” My point was that they would not exploit such wealth themselves, but would instead deal with corporations to the obvious exclusion of prospectors. The right to exploit minerals has always been available to all of us.

Our chamber sent a letter to the territorial government suggesting a referendum on the final terms of agreement but the chamber executive formally voted against supporting a petition that later appeared. Ron Granger President Yukon Chamber of Mines