The Yukon government says it has “lost confidence” in the Victoria Gold Corporation’s management team to effectively remediate the on-site cyanide contamination resulting from the June 24 heap leach failure and landslide at its Eagle Mine. As a result, the government successfully petitioned for the company’s assets to be placed in a receivership that allows dwindling corporate funds to be utilized for cleanup efforts.
A court appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as receiver to take control of the assets of Victoria Gold Corp., including the Eagle Mine, under the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, after a hearing on August 14.
The financial services firm has engaged Parsons Inc. to serve as lead environmental consultant.
Following an initial meeting with PwC, Victoria Gold Corporation’s CEO announced that he had been terminated from his position with the company.
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“The Government of Yukon is concerned that Victoria Gold Corp. does not possess the capacity itself and has failed to carry out the work that is required,” announced Yukon Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Tracy-Anne McPhee, in a statement. “The company has failed to comply with several formal directions issued by the Government of Yukon that require specific measures to be undertaken to address human health and safety and environmental risks and impacts,” added McPhee.
Heap leaching involves spraying a diluted cyanide solution on an open pit of crushed ore, collecting the metal-laden solution on a plastic or impervious surface. The Eagle Mine failure involved a slide of the ore stacked in the heap leach facility, which spilled over an embankment and also damaged some mine infrastructure just north of Mayo, Yukon.
To date, the Yukon government has reported the recovery of some 68 dead Arctic Grayling and Sculpin fish from Haggart Creek downstream of the mining site.
A diversion pipe was built to carry clean water from upstream of the mine site, around the failure, and into Dublin Gulch. As of August 8, under an inspector’s direction, the diversion pipe was extended directly into Haggart Creek, bypassing Dublin Gulch. The Yukon government reported that this measure has had a significantly positive impact on the levels of cyanide observed in Haggart Creek. From August 9 to 15, much lower concentrations of cyanide were observed at all surface water monitoring locations in Haggart Creek. Some 80% of samples received during this period have not detected weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide.
The Yukon government is establishing an Independent Review Board to identify the causes of the heap leach failure.
