The Minto Mine could soon be recalling workers who were laid off last January.

Mine manager Ron Light said this morning Capstone Mining is planning to begin stripping overburden from its next open pit deposit later this month.

The work will not only avoid further layoffs of the 68 remaining employees of Pelly Construction, but will likely result in filling 20 or more of the 44 jobs Pelly was forced to make vacant at the beginning of the year, Light said.

He said the company is expecting a draft amendment to its Quartz Mining Licence from the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in the next couple of days.

“We are waiting to see what the draft and the actual licence is going to say, and if we can live with the draft, we will proceed,” Light said.

The mine manager said the Minto Mine has been working closely on the amendment with the Yukon government and the Selkirk First Nation.

The amendment is required before the work can begin, he said.

Light has also written the Yukon Water Board to provide notice of what it is planning to do, and has asked the board for a response.

Water board manager Carola Scheu said this morning the correspondence from the company was discussed during a board meeting this week, and she is preparing a response.

Some of the work laid out by the mine in its letter to the board has been described by the board in the past as needing approval under a water licence.

The mine began the application process in July for an amendment to its water licence, though it could be months before that process is complete.

Light said it’s the understanding of the Minto Mine that all the regulatory approval it requires to begin preparing the Minto North pit falls under the Quartz Mining Licence and the amendment the company is seeking.

The Yukon government indicated last month it too is of the opinion that the work proposed by the Minto Mine falls under the government’s jurisdiction and does not require water board approval.

Pelly Construction laid off 44 of its 112 workers last January when the mine cut production in half to stretch out the existing ore body and maintain a Pelly workforce of 68 employees.

The Minto Mine and Pelly Construction have expressed concerns they would have to lay off the remaining workers this month if they did not receive the required regulatory amendment.

In his letter to the water board, the mine manager said the company has carefully identified what work does not require an additional amendment to the water licence.

“This approach will reduce disruptions in the lives of our employees and Selkirk First Nation contractors, while ensuring continued compliance with all regulatory requirements,” says Light’s letter to the water board.

“The work described in this letter and in the Schedule 3 Notice is essential in order to permit the Minto Mine to remain open while the amendment application is pending board approval, and to prevent a temporary or permanent closure of surface operations.”

Light said the mine has been in constant contact with Pelly Construction, the Whitehorse company contracted to do the open pit mining work and other heavy equipment work at the mine site.

Pelly has been assured the Minto Mine is doing everything it can to get its amendment to the mining licence, he said.

“They are like us; they are waiting to see what happens,” Light said. “My objective here is to meet the corporate objectives.

“But my personal goal is to keep people working. That is what I have been doing for 43 years, and I want to keep on doing that.”

Light said if and when they begin preparation of the Minto North pit, Pelly Construction will eventually end up moving more material than it was moving before the layoffs last January.

The company’s application to the water board for an amendment to its water licence is for regulating the expansion to the Minto North pit.

The Minto Mine has indicated that with the ore in the existing pit about to run out, there is still enough of a stockpile and ore coming from underground to keep the mill running well into next year while preparations of the Minto North pit are completed.