As the saga of the Eagle Gold Mine’s heap leach failure continues to play out in in offices, ecosystems, and the minds of many Yukon residents, so too does the debate about the future of mining within the territory. Mining proponents refer to efforts to make mining more sustainable and tout the need to access new minerals for the renewable energy transition, while those critical of mining point to the long-term ecological, social and financial costs that mines create, in some cases continuing many decades after the mines stop operating.
One impact of mining that has received less attention in the recent debate cycle is its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As anyone paying attention to climate change knows, dramatic and immediate GHG reductions are necessary in order to ensure a stable, livable future on planet Earth. The Yukon government has yet to firmly limit GHG’s from mines in the territory. Furthermore, recent assessments of the Faro Mine Remediation Project have determined that the GHG’s from that cleanup project alone could increase the Yukon’s overall emissions by 30 to 46 percent every year unless serious efforts are taken to offset them, an impact that would single-handedly negate all other emissions-reduction efforts taken within the territory. Other mines, particularly off-grid mines powered by fossil fuels such as liquid natural gas, would further increase emissions, at a time when the only appropriate direction for those emissions levels is downward.
On the face of it, it seems as though we are stuck between a rock and a hard place: we need to extract more minerals in order to build a green economy and reduce fossil fuel emissions, while at the same time mines need to burn fossil fuels in order to function. Truly a paradox.
But what if there was another option?
What if, instead of disrupting more ecosystems in order to build new mines, we extended the life of the resources that have already been extracted, used once, and then discarded?
What if we massively invested in e-waste recycling?
E-waste, or electronic waste, includes anything with electrical components, from cell phones to vacuum cleaners. These items contain precious metals such as copper, gold and cobalt, all of which are considered to be critical to an increasingly electrified future. However, as of 2022, it was estimated that only 22 percent of e-waste was collected and recycled.
As such, there exists massive potential to grow the e-waste recycling industry and collect many more electronics, deconstruct them, and reuse the precious materials they contain. Doing this could save landfill space, reduce harmful pollution, and create jobs that can exist wherever electronics are used, compared to the geographic specificity of mineral deposits.
Yukon enables e-waste recycling by charging a fee at the time of product purchase, which then means they can be returned for free to various collection points. But not all jurisdictions do this. What if more places did, or even had a cash refund system to incentivize those product returns?
Why not further value past mining efforts, by reusing the materials they already extracted for us?
Robin Reid-Fraser
Whitehorse
