By Canadian Press

Yukon government ready to step in after mine disaster, firm’s silence ‘unhelpful’

Jul 18, 2024 | 1:45 PM

WHITEHORSE, YUKON, CANADA — Yukon’s deputy mining minister says it’s “unfortunate and frankly unhelpful” that the owners of the Eagle Gold mine have been “silent in general” about action to remedy a disastrous ore slide that spilt hundreds of millions of litres of cyanide solution.

Lauren Haney says Victoria Gold has been “doing a lot of work” to treat and divert contaminated water, but it may not be enough, and the Yukon government is contemplating stepping in to “complement and supplement” the company’s work.

Haney says an independent review panel will be appointed to investigate what happened at the mine on June 24, with the government already in contact with “world-class experts.”

Yukon mineral resources director Kelly Constable says the situation at the mine site is in flux, and the company is running out of storage space for contaminated water in the mine’s ponds.

Constable says Victoria Gold is creating more storage space as a “temporary measure,” pumping contaminated water through the mine’s heap as it tries to buildup additional capacity over the next 10 to 15 days.

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The government has estimated the ore slide allowed 300 million litres of cyanide solution to escape containment at the mine’s heap leach pad, which uses the chemical to extract gold from ore.

Constable says the firm’s water treatment facility is unable to currently handle the volume of contaminated water, but it’s working on upgrading it while increasing monitoring of the stability of the heap leaching facility.

Victoria Gold hasn’t provided a public update since July 12, saying further information will be provided “as it becomes available.”

The company said then it was uncertain if it would ever resume production or if it had the financial resources to repair damage and fix the environmental impact of the disaster.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2024

The Canadian Press