Merci, Monsieur le President. On January 12, 2018, TerraX Minerals announced that it had acquired the mineral rights at the old Ptarmigan Mine for $5,000. While this may be good news for some, it raises serious questions about the remediation of the site. While this property was a gold producer in the 1940s, 1980s, and 1990s, it was abandoned over 20 years ago and is another mining public liability.

Some minor remediation work has been done at the site, including signage and fencing, but the buildings are in shambles. Dust from the tailings pond continues to blow around unabated. Further remediation apparently awaits negotiations with the federal government, as does the allocation of those costs between GNWT and Canada.

It is not clear why the mineral rights for the site were made available for further development while the site is under remediation. Similarly, it is not clear how the company has claimed it "has no liability for any remediation of the previous mine site."

How will the acquisition of the mineral rights for the Ptarmigan Mine site affect the ability to carry out remediation of the site? If there are exploration activities going on, such as drilling, sampling, or trenching, this could presumably impact the ability to carry out remediation. I discussed the acquisition of the Ptarmigan Mine with the representative of TerraX. They would like the property remediated as much as anyone else, but the company has encountered many problems in trying to work with GNWT over this site and the abandoned Crestaurum Mine. While there are legitimate concerns around liability, the issue of Good Samaritan legislation and policy deserves some attention from this government.

The news release issued by TerraX on the Ptarmigan Mine raises more questions than it answers. I will have questions later today for the Minister of Lands. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.