A number of claim holders have agreed to give up their mining claims within the conservation areas specified in the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan, the Yukon government announced Monday.

Seven companies have relinquished 5,031 of the 7,298 claims that were located in Special Management Areas and Wilderness Areas, the government said.

In exchange for relinquishing claims in the 68,000-square-kilometre Peel region, claim holders are granted relief from work requirements on claims held elsewhere in the Yukon.

Working with First Nations governments, the government and Newmont Corp. recently reached an agreement for the company to relinquish 1,835 claims in the Wind, Bonnet Plume and Snake River areas of the Peel region.

That’s the largest relinquishment by a single company in the Peel Watershed.

Bernard Kreft, Generic Gold and ATAC Resources are also claimholders in the region that have relinquished mineral claims under similar agreements.

They have now agreed to make their actions public.

When the land use plan was approved in 2019, there were almost 8,903 claims (8,378 quartz claims and 525 iron and mica leases) in the Peel region.

To date, 5,031 claims have been relinquished and discussions continue with other claimholders.

“Thank you to Newmont and other claimholders who are taking significant action to protect the Peel Watershed and ensure that this land is safeguarded now and for generations of Yukoners,” Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker said in a statement.

“Their agreements to relinquish claims within the Peel region are an example of responsible mining practices, which value environmental stewardship.”

The Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan was approved by he governments of Yukon, Vuntut Gwitchin, First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, and the Gwich’in Tribal Council. The parties continue to work together to implement the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan.

“I want to acknowledge the corporate and environmental responsibility that Newmont and other companies are demonstrating by relinquishing their mining claims in the Peel Watershed,” said Simon Mervyn, the chief of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

“These noble actions respect the irreplaceable cultural importance of that area to the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun people and support the implementation of the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan, developed in accordance with Chapter 11 of our Final Agreement.

“It is truly refreshing to see that large mining corporations have a social conscience,” Mervyn added.

Roberta Joseph, the chief of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, also commented on the development.

“With the relinquishment of mining claims within the Peel Watershed, Newmont has shown a commitment to environmental responsibility, and, importantly, they have demonstrated a commitment to upholding and respecting the outcomes of regional land use planning. Chapter 11 is a fundamental pillar of our Final Agreements,” Joseph said.

“It is encouraging to see this action and the collective pledge to honour the intent of the Peel Plan.”

Ken Kyikavichik, the grand chief of the Gwich’in Tribal Council, said he “would like to recognize the responsible approach to this issue by Newmont and the six other mining companies, through their decision to relinquish their mining claims within the Peel Watershed.

“The Gwich’in people are not against mining, but the risk to our culture and well-being from large-scale industrial activity in the Peel Watershed is simply too great.

“The Peel Watershed is the lifeblood of the Gwich’in Nation and is not only cherished by our people, but by all Canadians who stood by us in our collective protest to Protect the Peel,” Kyikavichik said.

In December 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada released a ruling that supported Yukon First Nations and environmental groups in their quest to protect the Peel Watershed region.

The late Thomas Berger acted as their senior legal counsel. He argued that former premier Darrell Pasloski’s Yukon Party government had breached its treaty obligations under Yukon’s Umbrella Final Agreement governing the land claim.

The high court ordered the government to consider a final recommended plan proposed by an independent commission that had been chaired by Whitehorse resident Dave Loeks. The plan would have protected about 80 per cent of the region from development.

For the previous half-decade, the case had been fought between the First Nations and environmental groups, and the Pasloski government. That government’s 2012 plan would have protected just 30 per cent of the region.

As thousands of Yukoners signed a petition demanding the basin’s preservation, the First Nations and environmental groups appealed to the nation’s top court.

The court upheld a judge’s earlier quashing of the Pasloski government’s final land use plan, ordering the planning to revert to an earlier stage.

The territorial government’s land use plan did not respect the Chapter 11 process, the decision read.

“As both the trial judge and Court of Appeal noted, Yukon’s conduct was not becoming of the honour of the Crown,” the senior court found.