BYG Natural Resources was found guilty of failing to uphold its water licence provisions at Mount Nansen. Courtesy of Yukon Conservation Society.

Alexco Resource and JDS Energy & Mining have been approved to purchase the long-shuttered Mount Nansen gold-silver mine, according to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC).

The purchase, announced on Tuesday by Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett, marks the end of a lengthy period in which the mine was under the responsibility of the Canadian government and the nation’s taxpayers.