Gramps,
This is from the Yukon News.
Tax payers stuck with tab for BYG mine
by John McHutchion
News reporter
The federal government has been forced to take over the environmental mess
at the idled Mt. Nansen gold mine, 60 kilometres west of Carmacks.
Northern Affairs stepped in after the receiver, D. Manning & Associates Inc.
of Vancouver, dropped the task on July 28.
D. Manning apparently gave up on mine-site maintenance after creditors of
BYG decided to stop funding the work, said David Sherstone, the regional
manager of water resources at DIAND.
The main task at the mine site now is to get the treatment plant that handles
tailings water back up and running, he said.
The plant is supposed to treat the cyanide- and heavy-metal-laced water
before it gets released into the watershed.
The federal government has already spent about $55,000 on maintenance and
security costs since it took over at the mine only a week ago, estimated
Sherstone.
That figure includes $18,000 for diesel fuel to power generators, $8,000 for
propane and $21,000 for new chemicals necessary to run the water-treatment
plant.
Part of the water treatment work will include ensuring that seepage escaping
from the tailings pond into a backup pond gets pumped back where it came
from.
(Because the dam leaked so significantly, and the stuff leaking out had high
levels of metals and cyanide, BYG built a second dam downstream and
installed a pump to return the seepage to the main pond.)
The new chemicals for the treatment plant were necessary because supplies
had run out by the time the receiver quit the mine.
"There was basically nothing left on site," said Sherstone.
The treatment plant needed restarting to bring down the level of water in the
mine's tailings pond.
As of July 27, the water was estimated to be only 12 to 15 centimetres from
running off into a spillway.
"That's our big concern," said Sherstone.
The goal now is to get as much water as possible out of the tailings pond
before freeze-up.
Northern Affairs is trying to reach a point where it won't have to maintain the
mine site over the winter, said Sherstone.
"In other words, we want to reduce our involvement (and) reduce the costs
that the government is incurring to the absolute minimum once winter comes,"
he said.
DIAND wants to remove enough water so the pond can refill without
overflowing when the snow starts melting in the spring.
"We'd like to get several weeks cushion, so that as things start to melt and fill
up the pond, if necessary, we can remobilize and get the treatment plant up and
running before we have a problem," said Sherstone.
However, it's unclear how much water will have to be drained from the pond.
DIAND had someone at the minesite on Tuesday doing a hydrographic survey
of the tailings pond to try to answer that question.
Sherstone estimated there could be anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 cubic
metres of water in the pond.
While DIAND has already committed over $50,000 to handling environmental
controls at Mt. Nansen, the potential long-term costs could be much more.
An independent study done in November, 1998, by a geotechnical engineer
found that final abandonment costs for the mine site could run anywhere from
$4 million to $8 million.
Creditors of BYG are apparently owed $3 million to $4 million, but the federal
government could trump all of those claims to cover the abandonment bill.
The federal takeover of environmental responsibility at the mine is just the latest
twist in a long story.
BYG fought running battles with the federal government over its ability to meet
standards for effluent released into the watershed.
In mid-May, the company, while already in receivership, was found guilty by a
territorial judge of violating the Yukon Waters Act.
The company was convicted of exceeding the allowable limit of cyanide in its
tailings pond between May, 1997, and January, 1998.
Meanwhile, the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation and the Carmacks
renewable resource council are awaiting test results on a moose's liver and
kidneys sent to Vancouver for analysis.
The moose was suspected of drinking from the Mt. Nansen mine's tailings
pond.
"Because we've had so many reports that moose and caribou are in the tailings
pond, what we want to know is if the tailings pond is affecting these animals,"
said Chris Noble, the director of lands and resources for Little
Salmon-Carmacks.
The tailings pond is in a traditional hunting area of the First Nation, and Noble
said people are questioning the potential health risks from eating an animal
taken from the area.
The First Nation recently set up a monitoring station near the tailings pond to
track the number of moose, caribou and bison that may be watering there.
Tests results on the moose liver and kidneys are due back in about three
weeks.
If the test results indicate elevated levels of heavy metals in the organs, the First
Nation could get more organ samples now or wait six months and do the test
again. |
