Any new details on the situation at the Eagle Gold Mine this morning near Mayo mostly played second fiddle to the news that its parent company Victoria Gold has been placed into receivership, causing its board of directors to resign.

A few pieces of new information trickled out during the weekly technical briefing.

After 68 fish were found dead in Haggart’s Creek on Aug. 2 while the mine was discharging its first load of treated water, cyanide levels have returned to their pre-discharge levels, according to Yukon officials.

Those levels are within acceptable limits according to the relevant guidelines, water specialist Tyler Williams said, although they are still higher than recommended under normal conditions.

It is yet to be explained how supposedly-treated water from the mine could contain cyanide amounts sufficient to kill fish downstream from the mine.

Williams said the difficulties in accessing groundwater wells safely still remain, making it difficult to test how badly contaminated the groundwater around the mine is. Initial indications were that the cyanide released by the disaster was starting to turn up near Haggart’s Creek.

Mining experts have told The Yukon Star it would likely take a month or more for the main body of the released cyanide to percolate into the watershed.