Memo from Transportation Conference Keno City, YT May 29-30

From Assemblyman Orion Hanson 6/6/19

Kaitlyn Jared, Executive director of SDC, and I attended the annual Yukon Transportation Conference hosted by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. I will offer bullet points for the event. • About 30 people attended ranging from YT Chamber of Commerce members, Mining executives, tourism directors, firefighting chiefs, First Nation reps, Yukon DOT engineers, politicians and local Keno business people. • Mining executives from Alexco, Western Gold and Copper and Pembridge (Minto) were in attendance. I spoke candidly that the current Ore Terminal facility and ship loader is not functioning efficiently for Skagway’s busy port demands. I highlighted that the ship loader interferes with the berthing of the larger ships, the Ore Terminal takes up a very large footprint in a busy port, and our freight demands are growing, both import and export, and much of that is driven by the Yukon. I expressed Skagway’s continued commitment in facilitating a bulk ore shipment, but indicated that we are very interested in a “containerization” type facility option that could include a crane for all types of freight loading and off-loading. • Western Copper (Cam Brown) and Pembridge (Nicollette Kovacs) both asked to be included in port design discussions, when applicable, and they both expressed positive support for the Municipality of Skagway hiring a new port consultant (B &A). • The Minto mine has been sold to Pembridge and the mine will ramp up operations to move back in to production soon. • Western Copper is likely 5+ years out, but Cam Brown did convey a range of the number of trucks we as the MOS can expect if the mine were to commence. Western Copper projects an average of 22 trucks per day with a low of 16 trucks and a high of 30 at peak capacity. • Alexco is about to reopen a silver mine and will ship a high-grade Silver concentrate through Skagway on AML in the special “Muffin Tin” sealed containers. • I described the current state of the Ore basin remediation process. We are working with White Pass on an 85% cleanup plan for the areas of contamination that can be accessed right now without disturbing the ship loader prior to the 2023 lease. • The Yukon Chamber requests that the MOS, Yukon Chamber, and YT government draft a joint letter to the US Dept. of Homeland Security- customs/border patrol requesting earlier crossing times for freight trucks and fuel trucks in effort to separate Industry traffic from tourism traffic. • Tourism travel throughout the Yukon, Skagway, and Haines was discussed at length and there is a steady growth curve on the Yukon side (and faster in Skagway). Sustainable tourism and over-saturation were discussed. • The Nares Bridge in will be complete this year. • The Airport has recently been paved and has daily flights with smaller jets from . • Firefighting air support was discussed at length. • Tourism is growing on the Dempster highway from Dawson to Inuvik.

Overall, the conference had very productive discussions from a variety of stakeholders. Keno City is about a 5-hour drive from Whitehorse and is celebrating its 100-year anniversary.