Board tasked with investigating mine's heap leach failure to be announced next week by Yukon gov't

The Yukon government says it will announce next week the people tasked with conducting an independent investigation into the heapleach failure at the Eagle gold mine near Mayo.

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker said at a briefing Friday morning thatthe government is in discussion with "world class experts" to serve on the investigation's board.

Today markedthe government's eighth briefing on the minesince the heap leach failed eight weeks ago, on June 24.

The briefing comes just over a week after an Ontario judge approved the Yukon government's application to appoint a receiver to oversee Victoria Gold's assets. The next day the company's entire board quit, and the CEO proclaimed that Victoria Gold was "over."

Then, last weekend, the newly appointed receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopersfired the mining company's CEO, John McConnell.

During today's briefing, Streickeralsosaid the government is in a legislated appeal period over the receivership decision, meaning it can't comment on the receivership or the company's financial situation.

"I am limited in what I can say today as an elected official."

Erin Dowd, manager of major mine licensing for the Yukon government, said the receiver is "moving quickly" to addressenvironmental and human safety risks.

She said its main priorities are to create groundwatermonitoring wells and to stabilize the heap.

A construction company is being brought in to startwork on the berm to stabilize the heapand the access road to that berm, she said.

"We are exploring safe locations for additional water storage on site," she said.

The site doesn't currently have enough capacity for all the contaminated water expected to come from remediation, Dowd said.

Diversion pipe installed, cyanide levels decrease

Tyler Williams, a water resources specialist with the Yukon government, said pipes to divert contaminated water away from Haggart Creek have been put inplace and have shown"significant positive impact on cyanide levels" in that creek.

Williams said water sampling results from Aug. 9 - 15 show much lower concentrations of cyanide in Haggart Creek, and 80 per cent of samples came back with no cyanide detected.

With the diversion, the contaminated water is pooling in a dry creek bed in Dublin Gulch, Willaims said. That water is thencaptured and pumped into trucks and sent back to water treatment plants.

Despite that, Williams said it's "still a dynamic situation that always has the potential to change."

Yukon gives another update on Victoria Gold heap leach failure

1 month ago

Duration 43:56

The Yukon government held a briefing on Aug. 23 on the heap leach facility failure at Victoria Gold's Eagle mine.