Principles and Goals of The
Whitehorse Mining Initiative
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Planning and Our Goals
Environmental
Assessment To ensure that govemment policies and
(continued) programs adequately incorporate environmental
considerations .
To ensure that monitoring programs are
efficient and effective, and provide adequate
feedback to stakeholders
Use of Information Our Principle
and Science in
Environmental For sound environmental decisions
Decision Making to be made during the life cycle of a
mine:
- all stakeholders need access to
high-quality, relevant, and unbiased
infommation grounded in sound
science: but
- complete scientific certainty is not
a prerequisite to appropriate action
to protect the environment where
risk of serious adverse impacts to the
ecosystem is evident.
Our Goals
To broaden and improve the information
base on the environmental effects of
mining and to ensure that all
information is accurate, unbiased, and
developed in a manner consistent with
professional standards and scientific
methods.
To promote meaningful participation by
Aboriginal peoples and the use of
traditional and local knowledge.
To ensure the decisions which could lead to
serious adverse impacts on ecosystems are
made cautiously, on the best available
infommation, and address the limitations of
science.
To promote research on the environmental
impact of mining and on minimizing those
impacts.
Land Use and Land Our Principle
Access
Access to land for exploration and
development is a fundamental
requirement for the mining industry.
Our Goals
To make land-use and land access policy
and decision-making processes accessible
to all stakeholders whose interests are
affected.
To ensure that decision-making processes
consider the requirements of the mining
industry and other stakeholders for land
access and use.
To develop collaborative mechanisms,
outside permitting processes, through
which stakeholders can address and
resolve contentious issues on an
on-going basis, both in the context of
specific projects and for broader police
matters.
To ensure that land-use and land-access
decisions are timely and result in as
much certainty and clarity as possible
for all stakeholders.
Protected Areas Our Principle
Protected area networks are essential
contributors to environmental health,
biological diversity, and ecological
processes, as well as being a
fundamental part of the sustainable
balance of society, economy, and
environment.
Our Goals
To create and set aside from industrial
development by the year 2000 those
protected areas required to achieve
representation of Canada's land-based
natural regions.
To use, after establishing where they do
not already exist, clear scientifically
based critena for determining both the
number of regions and the amount of a
region that need to be protected in
order to achieve representativeness.
To ensure that the selection of
protected areas is undertaken
consistently across all jurisdictions,
including an identification of candidate
protected areas by govemment, based upon
scientific cnteria, followed by
consultation with the mining industry
and all other stakeholders, and final
selection taking into account appropriate
economic, environmental and social
informatian.
To have government policies clearly state
that, subject to complying with all
applicable legislation and regulatory
requirements, mining is an acceptable
and pemmitted activity in non-protected
areas.
To provide that mining may be an
acceptable and pemmitted activity in
conservation- related areas not required
to achieve representativeness so long as
such development is compatible with the
objective of such an area and is
congruentSconsistent with relevant
legislation and management policies.
To ensure that Aboriginal peoples are
involved in the selection and management
of protected areas, benefit from
economic opportunities related to
development and operation of protected
areas and have access to protected areas
consistent with management plans for
traditional economies and ceremonial,
cultural, subsistence, and social
practices.
To coordinate the selection of protected
areas across jurisdictions so as to
achieve representation without
unnecessary duplication.
Certainty of Mineral Our Principle
Tenure
Certainty with respect to mineral
tenure and in acquiring the right to
mine as described in legislation is
critical to mineral investment.
Our Goals
To ensure certainty with respect to
mineral tenure and the process for
acquiring the right to mine as descnbed
in legislation.
To ensure that all governments have and
communicate clear policies on mineral
tenure, revocation and compensation.
To ensure that, for companies in
compliance with regulatory requiremen[s,
revocatlon of mineral tenure is used
only in extraordinary circumstances and
that appropriate compensation occurs in
a fair and timely manner.
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