Eagle Gold Mine grapples with 17,000-litre chemical solution spill

Cyanide solution recently spilled from a pipeline at the Eagle Gold Mine, according to a new report produced byVictoria Gold.

The problem occurred on July 30 when a pipeline flange ruptured, which released roughly 17,000 litres of the concentrate. The solution isused in the heap leaching process to extract gold from ore.

President and CEO John McConnell told CBC News everything is under control at the mine north of Mayo, Yukon crews responded to the incident quickly.

"It sprayed out of the containment area, but fortunately, it ran down the side of the bank and back into the containment area," he said.

According to the report, which was released this week, 176 cubic metres of material was affected.

McConnell said any contaminated soil was cleaned and put back into the containment area, which is equipped withsynthetic liners to capture process solutions.

"Every accident we have, whether somebody's injured or there's an environmental leak, we write up a full report, do an investigation and, you know, try and learn from it," he said.

"We take it very seriously."

'Having a spill this size should definitely be a wake-up call'

Lewis Rifkind, the mining analyst at the Yukon Conservation Society, told CBC News no amount of cyanide concentrate is good for the environment.

"Having a spill this size should definitely be a wake-up call," he said.

According to the report, the spill occurred roughly 500 metres away from a nearby waterbody.

Asked if groundwater could be affected, Rifkind said it's too early to tell the extent of the impacts, noting a subsequent report will be likelyproduced about the issue.

Rifkindsaidthe spill may pointto a design flaw.

Yukon News reported in July thatVictoria Gold was fined $460 after a 70-litre spill, which occurred in March.

"We're starting to see a record of spills happening at this particular facility," Rifkind said, "so it starts to raise questions either about the original design or the ongoing operation of the site. Are we at that stage here where we could have an ill-conceived design that's causing issues?"