It was only logical to seek a break for mining companies that have been saddled with a staking moratorium inside the Peel River watershed, says the president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines.

Carl Schulze was responding to an NDP press release issued Monday suggesting the decision by the Yukon Party to forgive fees and assessment work for some mineral claims in the Peel is costing Yukoners.

Schulze said Monday afternoon it's not logical to expect the Yukon government to freeze a company's ability to raise money, then turn around and ask that same company to shell out payments to renew its mineral claims.

Exploration companies, the chamber president explained, conduct assessment work on their claims by raising money through private and public investors.

With the government-imposed one-year moratorium on staking mineral claims inside the land use planning area, nobody's putting up any new money, and they can't be blamed, he said

Schulze said as a professional geologist who works in the industry, he would have to advise against investing in the area until the planning process is over and certainty is established for the watershed's future.

As it is, the future is up in the air, he suggested.

"There is no credible reason for people to invest in those claims while the interim protection is in place.”

Poppycock, responds NDP MLA Steve Cardiff when asked about Schulze's defence of the reprieve on claim fees.

Cardiff said companies know full well what is expected of them when they register mineral claims.

Just like homeowners and entrepreneurs who have to pay property taxes to live where they live and do business where they do business, regardless, exploration companies should have to live up to their financial responsibilities, he said.

Companies, Cardiff insisted, stampeded the Peel River watershed in recent years to latch onto a piece of property for fear of losing access through the land use planning process.

"If that's the game you are going to play, they you have to pay the price.”

Cardiff said the value of the fees coming due is in the neighbourhood of $250,000. With companies choosing not to work the claims in lieu of paying fees, he added, there's also an element of lost job opportunities arising from the government's reprieve.

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Patrick Rouble issued the order March 29 forgiving fees for some 2,000-plus claims which were due for renewal between Feb. 4, 2010 and February 2011 – the period for which the government's staking moratorium is in effect.

Rouble is out of town and unavailable for comment, and Premier Dennis Fentie was unavailable this morning to explain the decision.

News of the reprieve on renewal fees surfaced recently.

Under the Quartz Mining Act, companies must pay $100 a year to keep their claims in good standing, or do the equivalent of $100 worth of work on the claim; work on one claim can be applied to adjoining claims.

Schulze said the chamber of mines was pushing for the government to stop the clock on all mineral claims in the planning area, and not just the ones which were up for renewal during the year of the moratorium.

It's not reasonable to believe everything should stay normal when the government introduces such a major shift in the rules, he said.

Cardiff said if the government had implemented a moratorium several years ago when it was asked to as the planning process got underway, there wouldn't be this predicament today.

As the planning process gathered steam, so too did the level of staking, with the number of claims in good standing rising from 2,261 in April 2005 to 10,631 by February 2008.

The huge debate over the future of the Peel is entering its final stages.

The pro-conservation camp insists the 68,042 square kilometres are much too valuable as unspoiled wilderness to allow industrial activity and a network of roads and railways to spoil it.

Industry argues it is an area of vast mineral resources important to the world which can be utilized with very little impact to the environment.

A proposed land use plan was finalized last December by the Peel Watershed Planning Commission.

It was applauded by those who favour conservation and generally condemned by industry.

The final round of public consultation on the plan began this month, and will wrap up Oct. 1.

Under the agreed-to schedule, the Yukon government and four affected First Nations governments will have their response to the commission's recommended plan ready in the first part of December.