maphew

Yukon gold mining royalties

I've always known we ask too little for gold mining royalties in the #yukon , but holy shit is it ever BAD!

Our royalty rate was set in 1906 at 37 cents per $15 (one ounce). That's 2.47%.

In 2024 the territory saw $284,000,000 of gold extracted and sold, while earning a mere $37,000 in royalties -- 0.013%. If lawmakers had set the rule with a fraction instead of hard coded cents-per-ounce we'd have earned $7,014,800 in royalties (and miners would still be making bank).

For comparison, Alaska charges 3% of net income on mineral extraction (and 12.5% on oil).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/gold-