Giant Mine cleanup plan goes to regulator

The plan for cleaning up Yellowknife'sdefunct Giant Mine has been handed to regulators, but government officials say itwill take years before anyone can use the land.

Federal officials held two public information sessions Wednesday to let Yellowknifers know about the taxpayer-funded $300-million Giant Mine remediation plan, which was submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board on Friday.

The Giant Mine produced more than seven million ounces of gold from 1948 until it closed in 1999. The Indian and Northern Affairs Department is responsible for cleaning up the contamination left after more than 50 years of gold mining.

The government's cleanup plan includes taking 15 giant chambers, filled with 237,000 tonnes of poisonous arsenic trioxide dust a byproduct of the gold production process and freezing them in underground vaults beneath the mine.

"A large number of drill holes have to be drilled underneath the arsenic chambers and then all around the periphery," project manager Bill Mitchell told CBC News on Wednesday.

"We need to have these be fairly accurate in terms of where they go, just to ensure that we have continuity of the freeze wall. So it will be work that has to be done carefully, but there's no reason it can't be done."

It also details the surface cleanup, which will involve dismantling and removing more than 100 old buildings, some of which are laden with asbestos and arsenic. Under the plan, specialists will be brought in to dismantle and dispose of those buildings.

Mine pits will also be filled in, and 95 hectares of tailings will eventually be covered with gravel, dirt and trees.

"You will see no more buildings on the site. They will all be gone except for a new freeze plant and a new water treatment plant," Mitchell said.

"The rest of the site will be essentially open. People have mentioned ski trails, hiking trails, all that sort of thing."

Years before plan can be approved

The plan now has to wind through a regulatory process that could take years, followed by another decade for the cleanup.

Mitchell said the surface cleanup alone is expected to take five or six years. Freezing the arsenic underground should take nine years, but it will likely need to be monitored forever, he said.

Despite the expected lengthy timeline, some parties are already eyeing parts of the mine site. The N.W.T. Mining Heritage Society wants to save some of the buildings to form part of a museum, while the City of Yellowknife wants to develop the adjacent lakefront into housing and parks.

But city planning director Jeff Humble said its plans are on hold for now, since the cleanup plan does not include the water or the arsenic-filled sludge along the shore.

"We wouldn't want to promote any development that wouldn't address all of the health and safety risks for potential users or development at that site," Humble said.

Cleanup officials said the shore is safe as long as the sludge is not stirred up.