The Yukon’s regulatory and permitting system was given a rough ride Tuesday morning by mining executives attending this week’s Opportunities North conference.

Something needs to be done to streamline the review and approval process because it takes far too long to go through and it’s costly, the audience was told by John McConnell, president of Victoria Gold Corp.

McConnell said in March 2010, the company began moving its Eagle gold project near Mayo through the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment process. It received a positive recommendation from the screening agency in February 2013, followed later that year with approval of its Quartz Mining Licence by the Yukon government, he pointed out.

McConnell said the company expects to get the required approval from the Yukon Water Board sometime next spring.

“That is five years to permit an operation in the Yukon,” he said. “Is that acceptable? I do not think so.”

In other First World countries, the average timeline to receive project approval is three years, and one to 1 1/2 years in Third World countries, McConnell said.

Taking longer than three years, he insisted, does not mean a higher quality regulatory screening.

The Victoria Gold president told the audience the problem in the Yukon is that the screening and regulatory process is linear: first a company needs the assessment board’s recommendation, followed by Yukon government approval of the mining licence, which is then followed by the water board process.

“You should be able to do a lot of that work in parallel,” he said.

McConnell said he was loathe to recommend another study but said somebody needs to sit down and find ways to get the permitting to three years or fewer.

Victoria Gold’s cost just to satisfy the requirements of the assessment board and water board is in the order of $50 million, he pointed out.

McConnell was joined in Tueday morning’s panel discussion by three other mining executives working in the Yukon: Paul West-Sells, president of the Casino Mining Corp.; Tim Smith, vice-president for Kaminak Gold Corp.; and Maurice Albert, vice-president of Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd.

Each of the companies are in the advance planning and exploration phases of their projects.

And each of the executives told of the significant boost their mines will have for the Yukon economy and employment opportunities.

The Casino project, West-Sells explained, will be the largest mine in the Yukon’s history if it goes ahead as planned, employing 1,000 during four years of construction and 600 during 23-plus years of operation.

It will add another $274 million or more than 10 per cent to the Yukon’s gross domestic product every year, he told the audience.

But, like McConnell, West-Sells agreed the regulatory process is exhaustive and costly.

The company has paid out an estimated $18 million just to get where it’s at in the review by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board, he said.

“By the time we are done, it will probably be $25 million.”

West-Sells said the problem is Casino has the YESAB review, the two First Nations the company is working with conducting their own assessments, and then comes the water board.

“So really, you have four reviews of your project,” he said.

West-Sells agreed that it’s not an issue about having the capacity to do the work, it’s an issue about getting everybody working in parallel.

The two First Nations, he said, are not the problem.

It’s the unwillingness of the two regulatory bodies – YESAB and the Yukon government process, and the water board process – to work in parallel that the companies are having a problem with, West-Sells said.

McConnell said the proposed changes to the YESAB guidelines currently before the Senate for review may shrink the timelines a tiny bit, but much more will be needed to move the mark to three years or fewer.

The Kaminak Gold vice-president explained he was a veteran of mining in Australia. He came to the Yukon in 2010 to specifically work on the company’s Coffee project south of Dawson, in the newly discovered White Gold District.

The thought of $50 million in permitting costs scares him, Smith told the audience.

He said he recently ran into an old boss, and they began discussing what it had cost to get one of their Australian mines through the permitting process – $500,000, and 18 months.

That was back in 2005, and the dry desert areas of Australia don’t have the network of rivers to deal with that the Yukon does, Smith acknowledged.

Nonetheless, he suggested, 2005 was not that long ago, and it was $500,000, not $50 million, and it took 18 months, not five years.

Smith suggested when you’re an investor sitting in Toronto or New York looking for somewhere to put your money, the time it takes to permit a project matters – a lot.

“These are the things we have to compete with,” he said.

McConnell said investors have soured on the Yukon some.

Companies like his, and those which joined him for the panel discussion, are trying to turn that around by promoting the territory through their involvement with the Yukon Mining Alliance, with the assistance of the territorial government, he said.

McConnell said it’s an uphill battle, with the price of gold currently hovering around $1,200 an ounce, along with the overall state of the mineral markets.

When the market does turn, however, he remains confident investors will still be looking to companies working in the Yukon.

Conference moderator Darielle Talarico reminded the panel and the audience this year’s conference is titled Pushing Boundaries.

She encouraged those attending the conference to be frank, to discuss the problems they see and encounter, to dissect them and actively search out solutions.

There seems to be a disconnect in the territory between identifying and resolving the issues, she said.

West-Sells noted the desire to streamline the regulatory process has been the subject of discussion for years, and it’s still going.

Albert told the audience Selwyn Chihong will need a good permitting process if the company is to meet its objective of beginning construction in four years, with production commencing in six or seven.

Audience member Joe Jack, a former chief of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, cautioned the mining panel about pushing the regulatory boundaries provided for in the Yukon’s aboriginal land claim settlements.

Would it not be easier, he asked, to sit down and work with everybody?

“I do not think what I am suggesting is changing the process,” McConnell said.

“What I am suggesting is co-ordinating the three processes in the Yukon; the YESAB process, the quartz mining process and the water board process.

“I just think a lot of work could be done in parallel.”