The CEO of Victoria Gold Corp shared some new developments regarding the clean-up from the late June landslide that compromised the heap leach facility at the company’s Eagle Gold Mine north of Mayo.
In his first interviews with the Yukon media on July 30, John McConnell chalks his silence over the past month up to not having much good news to share. He thinks that has now changed based on newly-commissioned water treatment at the site.
The company’s latest water treatment results shared on July 30 note the detection of weak acid dissociable cyanide detected in seven of 134 samples collected as of July 23 from sites in Haggart Creek downstream of the heap leach failure that sits astride the creek bed. The report found that cyanide concentrations range from 5.2 to 9.3 parts per billion. The company’s downstream water quality objective is five parts per billion.
Work has been ongoing to improve the water treatment capacity at the mine with a new plant brought in from Texas with a reverse-osmosis system to be used along with chemical treatment. He said the plant, which was being commissioned this past weekend, will be capable of treating for cyanide, heavy metals and ammonia, which is a byproduct of cyanide destruction.
McConnell said the company hadn’t been able to discharge treated water back to the environment yet but expected that to begin soon.
Speaking to the portion of the recovery project that the government announced it would take over late last week, McConnell expressed safety concerns with work in that area. Government officials told reporters that a berm would be built to protect those working on the groundwater wells.
McConnell said that storage for contaminated water is being improved, although it didn’t reach the volumes required in government inspector’s directions earlier this month. He attributes the shortfall to time, space for water storage and the delayed arrival of liners for the facility due to landslides on highways to the south. The existing storage is about 80-per-cent full, according to McConnell.
Along with storing it, Victoria Gold has been recirculating contaminated water to the heap leach facility. Corresponding geotechnical assessments are being conducted to learn more about how stable the heap is with water running through it.
Once more information about its stability is received, McConnell said some grooming of what remains of the heap will commence to head off small collapses.
“We would hope to, as soon as possible, stabilize the front side of that heap leach pad and, you know, fill in that hole that’s been created along the western side and that’ll stabilize it,” he said.
To determine the cause of the landslide, McConnell explained that a panel of experts would start work on Aug. 5. He said a report on the cause is expected within four to six weeks.
The fallout of the heap leach facility collapse has included a call for a mining moratorium by the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND) that has been echoed by other First Nations around the territory.
While he claims a good long-term relationship with FNNND, McConnell recognizes that it is now "strained."
“People are mad at Victoria, and I've been the figurehead for Victoria, so they're mad at me, and that's fine. You know, I think at the end of the day, we're all reasonable people, and we want what's best for the First Nation and what's best for the Yukon, and we'll come together and, you know, it will come to consensus on how best to advance the mine back to production,” he said.
The July 30 statement from the company notes that no assurances can be made that the mine would be given authorization to restart production or that it will have the necessary financial resources to clean up from the slide and repair what was damaged.
“I don't think there is a moratorium yet. The NND does not have that authority. They've asked the Yukon government to put in place a moratorium on mining. You know, I've often said, you know, in the Yukon, we don't have fishing, we don't have logging, we have very limited agriculture. So, if we want a robust economy, we have to support mining. We need responsible, safe mining," McConnell said.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com
