Tyhee ordered to stop operations
AANDC notice said company failed conditions of permit; US$5M loan matures this week
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Tyhee Gold has been given notice from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada saying Tyhee failed to comply with the conditions of its land-use permit.
Tyhee Development Corporation's chief geologist, Val Pratico, stands outside of the Ormsby Portal at the company's Yellowknife Gold Project in 2005. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada has recently issued a notice saying the corporation failed to comply with the conditions of its land-use permit. - photo courtesy of Tyhee Development Corporation |
Tyhee spokesperson Greg Taylor said the notice was the result of the company effectively suspending all activities there "some time ago."
"We're in ongoing discussions with AANDC," he said.
In the notice, resource development manager Tim Morton, speaking for the federal government, said the company failed to comply with the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.
It requires the permit holder "retain an independent professional engineer to conduct an annual inspection of the effects of the activities and of any remediation undertaken on the tailings cap."
In the document, Morton ordered Tyhee to immediately stop any and all land-use operations associated with its permit, including use of the airstrip, exploration camp, mine portal and its core storage area until the required inspection has been done.
The camp is located about 80 km northeast of the city.
Taylor said the company had to complete the airstrip and submit a report before Tyhee can perform any further activity because they were needed for access and before opening the site again.
"It is our plan to go back into the camp at some point," he said. "However, we don't have any sort of hard projection as to when that may happen."
While Taylor insisted the company was in advanced discussions regarding possible financing, he stressed that he couldn't say when they would be completed or with any certainty they would be.
"If and when we get the money to do so, we look forward to complying and doing the work that needs to be done," he said. "Basically, they have asked us to comply with an order, and letting us know something we know we have to do."
On Monday, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada had not provided Yellowknifer with official comment on the status of the notice.
The same day, Taylor had also confirmed nothing had changed.
The company's USD $5 million loan with RMB Australia Holdings Limited is also due this week. In July, Tyhee announced that the maturity date of its financial agreement with RMB had been extended from July 28 to today. Under the agreement's terms, RMB Australia provided Tyhee with the funds at an interest rate of two per cent per month or 24 per cent per year. This was the seventh extension of the loan.
In a news release, the company said this further extension was made in order to facilitate Tyhee's plans to raise the capital to repay the loan with RMB Australia.
Tyhee said they also remain "very interested" in acquiring RMB Australia's investments in Sutter Gold Mining Inc.
However, earlier this year, trade of the company's stock was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This was because Tyhee was unable to complete the filing of its annual audited financial statements due to insufficient funds.
