Skagway could have a new customer at the port soon.
Selkirk Copper Mines, Inc., a new mining company based in Yukon, recently completed the purchase of the Minto mine and is looking to export ore through the Skagway port, possibly as soon at 2028. The Minto mine, which closed in 2023, is located about halfway between Whitehorse and Dawson City. The mine was purchased from bankruptcy for $6.4 million Canadian.
The company, which is part of Selkirk First Nation, is currently working toward restarting mining operations and has reached out to Skagway officials about shipping. If they are able to come to terms on exporting ore through the Port of Skagway, they would become the first mining company to utilize the port since 2023 when the Minto mine closed.
Selkirk CEO Colin Joudrie, in a letter to the Skagway Ports and Harbor Advisory Board, said the goal for the company was to open dialogue with the community.
As part of an agreement, Selkirk Copper officials have pledged to $300,000 toward cleaning up and old ore storage facility, and said the company would invest approximately $15 million in the port in an effort to rebuild the ore terminal.
Joudrie, in an interview regarding the company’s plans, said the Yukon government would also play a part in the restart. The Yukon will fund a majority of the care and maintenance activities until April of this year.
Selkirk Copper has expressed an interest in coming to an agreement with Skagway quickly, possibly by the end of March, with a goal of getting a positive response for re-opening mining operations at the Minto mine in 2027, with the official start of exporting ore through Skagway in mid-2028.
“There’s a genuine alignment between the different government groups in the U.S. and Canada to make sure the port can service mineral concentrate export going forward,” he said. “We’re going to figure out how to do rotainers or containerized-bulk bags sort of shipments that minimizes disruption in the port and utilizes existing dock facilities in a way that makes sense.”
Joudrie said Canadian mining officials have taken port operators and port directors to several facilities that employ to see current operations in British Columbia with minimal dust infusion.
“We don’t have a firm plan in front of them, but they (Skagway officials) open to discussions,” he said. “They’re leaning in, if that’s the right phrase, and we need to take advantage of that and get a solution in place over the next two years.”
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