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Tahltan to get $7-million annual cut of Brucejack tax revenue

The Tahltan First Nation will receive a $7-million annual share of the mineral tax revenue generated from Brucejack Gold Mine, the province announced today in a press release.
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The Brucejack Mine is a 2,700 tonnes-per-day high-grade gold underground mine located approximately 65 km north of Stewart. (Brucejack Mine photo)

The Tahltan First Nation will receive a $7-million annual share of the mineral tax revenue generated from Brucejack Gold Mine, the province announced today in a press release.

Provincial mineral taxes generated by the mine are expected to reach about $48-million per year.

“Revenue-sharing agreements, like the one we have signed today with Tahltan Central Government, support a strong economy and share our collective wealth in ways that respect the rights of First Nations. Sharing the wealth from extraction of natural resources within First Nations territories is an important part of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and an important part of supporting self-determining, healthy First Nations communities,” Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Scott Fraser.

Pretium Resources, the company that owns the Brucejack mine, entered into a cooperation and benefits agreement with the Tahltan Central Government in 2017, in which education and training were promised for Tahltan members. Pretium also set employment targets to help Tahltan businesses have access to contracting opportunities.

Tahltan Central Government President Chad Day praised the signing today as a symbol of a deepening relationship with the province, to “ensure the uses of the land are consistent with the values of the Tahltan people.”

The Brucejack underground gold mine was commissioned in April 2017, and is expected to produce up to 2,700 tonnes per day, once operating at full capacity. According to Pretium the project will create more than 300 jobs during its minimum 22-year lifespan.

The announcement today follows a similar agreement the province signed with the Nisga’a Lisims Government May 18, in which the treaty nation will receive $8-million annually from Brucejack tax revenues.

READ MORE: Nisga’a Nation could receive $8M a year from new tax revenue agreement

More than $42 million in mineral tax revenue from mining has been shared with First Nations since payments began in 2013, under the Economic and Community Development Agreement program. To date, B.C. has signed 34 agreements to share mineral tax revenue with 45 First Nations, including this agreement with Tahltan, and another signed in April 2018 with the Nisga’a Lisims Government for the Brucejack Mine.


 


quinn@terracestandard.com

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