Operations had been suspended at Eagle, Yukon’s solely producing gold mine after the corporate reported on Monday {that a} failure at its HLP brought on an accident and spill that broken infrastructure. Victoria shares plunged 84% this week, now valuing the corporate at C$77.8 million. The mine is about 375 km north of Whitehorse.
Investigators have but to find out the complete extent of the injury at Eagle. On the media briefing, they couldn’t say how a lot contaminated water from the landslide is being contained, how a lot contaminated water was launched and the way a lot cyanide was within the HLP ore on the time of the accident. It’s additionally unclear how a lot, if any, contaminated water escaped the property.
The corporate has a C$104 million safety posted with the territory as a possible cleanup fund. However Victoria Gold faces looming debt funds of C$232.5 million as of March 31 that cloud the corporate’s future with its sole asset closed in the intervening time.
Victoria hasn’t responded to requests for remark.
Second landslide
The territorial authorities additionally confirmed that the incident was the second landslide to happen on the web site since January, when a smaller failure occurred on the ore stockpile that wasn’t being leached, Meredith Younger, mine security supervisor with the WSCB, stated on the similar briefing.
Additional particulars weren’t obtainable on how shut the January landslide was to the accident on Monday, Younger stated.
A earlier accident at Eagle in March 2021 brought on a 17,000-litre spill of focus supposed for the HLP, however Victoria Gold CEO John McConnell stated on the time the spill was cleaned up and put again into the containment space, CBC reported. The corporate was fined C$460 for the spill.
Requested by The Northern Miner about what two such accidents in three years says in regards to the strictness of the inspection regime, Tewnion stated that from an enforcement perspective, such points are handled progressively.
“The corporate has confronted fees beforehand,” he stated. “If we went there, and there was a minor infraction, we might tackle it, maybe do an inspection report. If it’s a recurring downside it’d escalate to inspectors ordering them to do one thing. If it continued, it might result in formal fees.”
Younger stated it wasn’t clear but if the corporate cleanup fund could be sufficient to cowl prices. The heap leach pad can maintain as much as 90 million tonnes of ore, in accordance with a Victoria Gold technical report. however officers couldn’t say how a lot of it cascaded down a slope on the web site.
One week for water outcomes
Water samples to check potential cyanide contamination had been taken from completely different websites at Eagle on Monday, together with on the management pond close to the HLP, a containment dam and a pure spring close to the mine.
The samples had been despatched to a laboratory in Burnaby, BC, and outcomes are anticipated in 5 to seven days, Russell McDiarmid, head of main mines with the division, stated on the briefing.
Containment dams at Eagle seemed to be holding water that leaked from the HLP, as noticed by inspection officers dispatched to Eagle.
A cursory evaluate of underground wells suggests ingesting water is secure to devour in the neighborhood of Mayo, about 75 km southwest of Eagle, Dr. Shobit Maruti, Yukon’s appearing chief medical officer of well being, stated.
“The chance that the ingesting water in Mayo is affected is extraordinarily unlikely,” he stated. “We now have supported the village operators to take samples and likewise ship them down south for testing.”
However extra proof is required to find out water high quality in streams close to Eagle and never sufficient info has been gathered to problem public advisories.
The federal government is working intently on water testing with the close by First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND), which is doing its personal testing.
‘Dire state of affairs’
In a press release posted on Fb on Monday, the FNNND expressed deep concern with the potential environmental results of the heap leach failure.
Whereas laboratory outcomes will nonetheless take a couple of extra days, cyanide contamination of creeks might be evident sooner if there are all of a sudden useless fish, stated a person figuring out himself as an engineer affiliated with FNNND. Resulting from poor audio high quality within the briefing, his identify wasn’t clear.
“It’s past doubt there’s been cyanide launched,” he stated. “First Nations are dismayed and offended. It is a disaster unfolding earlier than us. We wish to see a higher-level response. We all know extra is coming. Makeshift dams aren’t the reply. Actual vital motion is required.”
White River First Nation (WRFN) chief Bessie Chasse stated the First Nation can also be alarmed by the potential downstream impacts of the accident. The WRFN is about 290 km southwest of Eagle, close to the border with Alaska.
“Too typically with mines like Faro, Mount Nansen, Minto and Yukon Zinc now we have seen corporations complain about gradual regulatory processes, after which depart large environmental points behind them, that Yukoners and all taxpayers should undergo the implications of,” she stated in a Fb publish on Thursday.
“The Yukon authorities is simply too centered on approving mines with out considering by means of the implications of these approaches.”