Nonetheless, McConnell says the corporate doesn’t agree with some efforts by the territorial authorities to step in with contractors to construct a berm as a result of it could create environmental and issues of safety. However the firm helps the hassle, he mentioned. He made the feedback in an interview the CBC aired on Tuesday.
It adopted on the identical day the corporate’s first printed assertion since July 12, which mentioned it continues to seek out “hint quantities” of cyanide, utilized in gold mining to separate the metallic kind ore, in an area creek. It’s proposing to ship a few of the contaminated water on web site again to the heap leach pad in order that containment ponds aren’t overwhelmed.
“The corporate and its third-party specialists have decided {that a} modest irrigation technique to the areas of the heap leach facility (HLF) that weren’t impacted by the HLF incident is a protected water administration plan,” Victoria mentioned.
It “will enable time for the corporate to enhance water therapy and discharge capability at web site and can keep away from direct discharge of untreated water to the surroundings,” the miner mentioned.
Moratorium
Some 4 million tonnes of ore slid down a steep embankment on the Yukon’s solely gold miner about 375 km north of Whitehorse. About 280,000 cubic metres of cyanide-containing answer cascaded down with the landslide, in keeping with authorities estimates.
Native contamination seems to be restricted to at least one creek and the federal government helps with the cleanup. The native First Nation has known as for a moratorium on all mining in its conventional territory.
Victoria Gold is sound financially for not less than 4 to 6 months, however would then probably want financing, McConnell instructed the CBC. The corporate confronted debt funds of C$232.5 million as of March 31, in keeping with its first-quarter monetary report.
Shares within the miner fell 2.6% to C$0.565 apiece in Toronto on Wednesday morning, valuing the corporate at C$38.3 million. The inventory misplaced about 85% of its worth after the accident.
Victoria mentioned it detected minor quantities of weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide, a designation that features completely different types of the toxin, in seven of 134 samples collected as of July 23 in Haggart Creek downstream from the positioning.
The outcomes vary from concentrations of 5.2 to 9.3 components per billion WAD cyanide. Victoria’s water use licence enable 5 components per billion WAD cyanide, whereas federal pointers for ingesting water allow as a lot as of 200 components per billion free cyanide, the corporate mentioned.
Seismic research
The corporate says it has carried out a seismic survey to assist assess the integrity of the heap leach pad’s embankment and it’s elevated its geotechnical monitoring. There’s been no important materials motion on the pad because the accident, it mentioned.
It’s finishing the development of lined containment ponds and has elevated water therapy capability on web site. The ponds have been delayed by supplies held again in a highway closure south of Whitehorse whereas the mine has imported chemical compounds and gear from Texas and elsewhere to assist with water therapy, McConnell instructed the CBC.
McConnell mentioned it was too early to find out the precise reason for the accident. The corporate has appointed a three-person panel of specialists, two of them skilled with heap leaches, the opposite a hydrochemist who’s been concerned in comparable investigations, the CEO mentioned within the interview. Their names will likely be confidential till a report is launched in about 4 to 6 weeks, he mentioned.