A controversial proposal to conduct mineral exploration north of Haines Junction in the Ruby Range has been rejected by the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

Just as there were two weeks ago, when the Yukon Territory Water Board rejected the Carmacks Copper Project, there are mixed emotions about this decision.

The assessment board's Haines Junction office recommended the government deny a land use permit for the Kluane Project proposed by Rockhaven Resources and Archer Cathro & Associates for the Killermun Lake area.

Allowing the exploration to proceed, says a 68-page decision issued Wednesday, would cause significant environmental disturbance for local mountain sheep and caribou.

"The assessment concluded that effects to wildlife and wildlife habitat resulting from the proposed project would be significant and adverse, and could not be mitigated,” says the decision.

"These effects stemmed primarily from frequent helicopter disturbance and its impact on sheep, as well as the potential for unintended increased access to the region via the proposed route to walk-in an excavator along Ruby Creek.”

The same project proposal raised the ire of many organizations and individuals in the mid-1990s, for many of the same reasons the Haines Junction office recommended the application be rejected.

The YESAB recommendation has been forwarded to the Yukon government, which has 30 days to either accept, reject or alter the recommendation. It has, in the past, overturned recommendations from the assessment board.

Lewis Rifkind, the mining co-ordinator for the Yukon Conservation Society, said the conservation society is very nervous about how the government will treat this one.

On the other hand, he noted, there seems to be a shift in thinking by the territorial cabinet, with a higher priority

being given to protection of areas the public has deemed vulnerable and ecologically significant.

The government did after all implement a one-year moratorium on mineral staking in the Peel River watershed while work to finalize the land use plan for the 68,042 square kilometres is ongoing, he said.

Rifkind, however, said the government does have a record of using the legislated right of mining companies to access their claims to override recommendations from YESAB.

"We are very happy with the decision,” Rifkind said. "It is not just us; there was a wide variety of people expressing the same concern about the impact on the sheep, and it was the issue YESAB seems to have listened to.”

Matthew Turner, chief executive officer of Rockhaven Resources, said Thursday the company was surprised and disappointed with the assessment board's recommendation.

The company, however, won't know if or how this year's $350,000 exploration program scheduled to begin next month will be affected until it sees whether the Yukon government accepts, rejects or alters the YESAB's decision, he said.

Rockhaven Resources, Turner noted, has already lined up its accommodations at the Cozy Corner in the community of 850, and has retained a local helicopter company for daily transportation, and a diamond drilling company for the work.

The Yukon Chamber of Mines and the mining industry in general have expressed concern over the water board's rejection of the Carmacks Copper Project, suggesting it may rattle the industry's confidence in the territory's regulatory regime. Officials with the chamber could not be reached for comment.

Rockhaven is planning to begin the first of its five-year drill program June 15, for a period of two to three weeks, according to information the company supplied to the assessment board.

For the first year, the crew would to be flown out to the site daily, and it's estimated this summer's work would require five to six flights per day, totalling three hours of helicopter time.

The project calls for 100 exploration holes over the five years, and a bush camp to be constructed in future years.

Rockhaven was also seeking approval for a 15-kilometre access route to the site from the end of the Ruby Creek Road, so that it could walk in a piece of heavy equipment.

Opposition to the project came from First Nations, various organizations and individuals, just as it did back in 1994 and '95 when Archer Cathro & Associates received what was then federal permission to walk in an excavator.

"The Yukon Outfitters Association has a member that outfits and operates hunting and wilderness tourism activities in this area and they will be directly and adversely affected by the Kluane project,” reads the association's April 23 submission to the YESAB.

"Specifically we are concerned with the negative effect that the helicopter activity, diamond drilling, the mobilization of equipment and especially any improved access that this project will have on the sheep, caribou and other wildlife as well as the wilderness values in the project area.”

From the Yukon government's Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, the submission reads: "The environmental impacts of this operation can be mitigated if the proponent follows the Standard Operating Conditions as outlined in Schedule 1 of the Quartz Mining Land Use Regulation.”

Rockhaven is proposing to mitigate its impact by choosing the least intrusive flight paths, and to fly at the least intrusive times and at the least intrusive altitudes, after the primary lambing period for sheep has passed.

All in all, the company cited 38 specific items it planned to address to ensure minimal impact.

In its decision, the Haines Junction office wrote: "The designated office has determined that the proposed project will result in significant adverse effects to wildlife and wildlife habitat that cannot be mitigated, due to effects resulting from disturbance to wildlife, and in particular, to sheep.

"The project has been assessed in consideration of a five-year temporal scope with 4 1/2 months of activity involving an average of three to 10 hours of flight activity per day over sensitive critical range for sheep, caribou and bison.

"Sheep and caribou are particularly sensitive to this kind of disturbance, for which the project proposes a relatively high intensity of flight activity.

"The designated office has identified no mitigations to adequately address chronic disturbance to extremely sensitive species in areas directly overlapping critical range.

"Furthermore, information submitted to the designated office indicates that the Ruby Creek access route cannot be used and therefore, the project cannot proceed as proposed. For these reasons, it is recommended that the project not be allowed to proceed.”