News of a potential leak from a containment pond at what was once the Yukon Territory’s largest operational mine has raised concerns among government officials and locals.
The development was initially reported by PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. (PwC) — the court-appointed company responsible for handling Victoria Gold’s receivership proceedings following its recent troubles. The former Eagle Mine operator has been delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange due to financial turmoil after a catastrophic heap leach pad failure incident at the site last summer.
Millions of tonnes of contaminated material were displaced when a section of the mine where gold is extracted from ore through a chemical process completely failed structurally, causing a massive landslide. Now, it appears that a containment pond built to help mitigate environmental damage from water saturated with cyanide, mercury, cobalt and other chemicals is potentially flawed.
“The notification was prompted by irregularities in storage pond volumes,” the Yukon Government said in a statement on Friday. “Regulatory and enforcement agencies have been notified and ongoing water quality monitoring results will determine if a leak may be impacting Haggart Creek [nearby].”
In addition to government authorities, the local Nacho Nyak Dun First Nation was also notified about the possibility of a leak. PwC is currently conducting additional assessments to figure out its cause.
“Further work is required to determine if the reduction in volume is due to settlement and ice formation or if water has leaked into the environment,” the government said.
Water sampling completed in the mine’s surrounding area last November showed elevated levels of cyanide and cobalt.
Read more: Golden conservation: Calibre environment leaders rendezvous to discuss achievements and goals
Read more: Calibre Mining finds high grade gold mineralization outside of its Valentine Mine resource
What will become of the Eagle Gold Mine?
Once significant remediation work has been completed, another mining company could potentially purchase the property, but is unclear whether that will happen anytime soon.
The site will remain closed for the foreseeable future while additional water management and environmental work is underway. Monitoring the water quality in Haggart Creek is of particular concern. Yukon water monitoring experts from the territorial government claimed that cyanide-contaminated H2O from Eagle killed dozens of fish last summer.
The cleanup is expected to cost over C$150 million once all is said and done. Victoria Gold’s assets (machinery, etc.) will be sold off to pay for this work and once funds from the company have been exhausted the government will foot the bill for the remainder. The amount provided by Yukon regulators will then be reimbursed by PwC once the mine is sold.
Government officials said last August that they wanted to get the project up and running again, despite these major setbacks, but that may be overly optimistic in the near term.
The Yukon Water Board just agreed to allow the discharge of partially treated water from the site through an emergency amendment to the operation’s water license.
rowan@mugglehead.com
