Amendments required to bring the Yukon's mining legislation into compliance with last December's Yukon Court of Appeal decision were tabled Wednesday.

Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) Minister Scott Kent said in an interview Thursday the amendments present the stepping stones to new regulations for guiding work on quartz and placer mining claims.

Whether the new rules will require additional staffing resources for the department is too early to tell, the minister said.

"Those decisions we are going to have to make as we see what kind of work load this will create.”

Kent said it is cabinet's intent to have the new legislation and regulations in place by Dec. 27.

That date is the one-year anniversary of the court decision, and the deadline imposed by the court to bring Yukon legislation into compliance with the ruling.

Mike Kokiw, the executive director of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, said Thursday the chamber does not have a comment on the proposed amendments because the board of directors has not had a chance to review the legislation.

Board members will be meeting this week to discuss the amendments, he said.

Laura Clarkson, administrator for the Klondike Placer Miners Association, said the same.

The Ross River Dena Council launched a legal action against the Yukon government in February 2011.

It argued before the government issued any mining claims in Ross River's traditional territory, it needed to consult with Ross River. The Court of Appeal agreed.

The court found a mining claim comes with automatic permission to conduct a bunch of work on a claim without telling anybody or obtaining any permits.

Because that work could impact on the aboriginal rights and title of the Ross River Dena Council, it was therefore necessary for the Yukon government to consult Ross River before issuing any claims inside its traditional territory, the court ruled.

The government accepted there was a duty to consult the First Nation before allowing a certain level of activity on a mining claim.

It rejected the court's finding that consultation was required before a mining claim was staked and recorded.

It asked the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal on the matter, but the highest court rejected the Yukon government's request in September.

The government, however, announced last spring it would embark on developing new guidelines requiring consultation before a certain level of work was allowed on a mineral claim.

The minister said Thursday while the Ross River case is the driving force behind the changes in legislation and regulations, it is the government's intent to apply the new guidelines across the Yukon.

EMR's Bryony McIntyre explained this morning the department is working with all the parties to establish the level of activity which would require prior consultation, and what level of work wouldn't.

Whatever changes come about will apply to all mineral claims, new and old, she said.

Under the current regulations, the holder of a quartz mineral claim can automatically cut trails and clearings, build a camp, move up to 500 tonnes of rock, and use 1,000 kilograms of explosive without telling anybody.

The Court of Appeal ruling sent shivers through the industry.

It would be, as the industry noted back then, quite onerous if a prospector suddenly had to consult and get a permit before he hiked into the bush with his tent and backpack to scoop up a couple of soil samples and chip away with rock hammer.

McIntyre said the intent of the new legislation and regulations is to establish a new threshold that would not inhibit relatively minor activity but would require consultation prior to more advanced work.

With the Supreme Court of Canada rejecting the Yukon's request to hear an appeal on the issue of requiring consultation even before a claim is staked, the government is also working on meeting that obligation to Ross River, Kent said.

The minister said there is existing legislation that allows the government to withdraw tracts of land from staking, the same legislation under which the Peel River watershed has been withdrawn while land use planning continues.

It is the government's intent to work with the Ross River Dena Council to establish a map detailing what areas are open to staking, and what areas are not, the minister said.

He said the government plans to have that work completed by the Dec. 27 deadline as well.

Asked whether the government believes it has the same obligation to consult the White River First Nation and the Liard First Nation before claims are staked, Kent said the focus now is meeting the obligation to the Ross River Dena Council.

White River and the Liard First Nation, like the Ross River Dena Council, have not signed aboriginal land claims. They're the only three of the 14 Yukon First Nations without settlements.

Both White River and the Liard First Nation have put the government and the mining industry on notice: if industry wants to work inside their traditional territories, they'd be advised to meet with the First Nation first.