A retired expert in heap-leach mining says the Eagle Mine landslide should never have happened – and he is blaming the Yukon government for it.

John McLeod has more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, in particular with operations such as Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine operation north of Mayo.

On June 24, the entire heap leach pad at the site collapsed, prompting a landslide that left more than a kilometre of debris in its wake, and creating fears that cyanide is now spreading into the groundwater table.

While the Yukon government reported cyanide in a nearby creek last week, the company said its water tests found no cyanide content.

McLeod spoke to The Yukon Star Friday afternoon about the situation. He cited a report done by a consulting company when the mine was first proposed.

“It’s all there,” McLeod said. “Right in that report are all the answers you need about the cause. It’s pretty clear what happened.

“A consultant engineering company reviewed the whole heap leach facility and its operating procedure. They made quite a number of recommendations which were not followed. These recommendations were based on best practice for managing heap leach projects which most ‘reputable’ mining companies undertake as normal,” McLeod said.

“What is interesting is that this engineering report was prepared for the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, not Victoria Gold. The EMR should have then regulated and enforced the recommendations. I see no evidence that they ever did.”

McLeod added, “This might explain why the bureaucrats at last Friday’s (June 28) technical meeting had such shocked looks on their faces. They are attempting to avoid the headlights.” (The government held the media briefing.)

Much of the media coverage has focused on the cyanide spill, rather than addressing the cause, McLeod said.

“This project should never have got off the ground. On June 7, 2017 (then-premier and Finance minister) Sandy Silver reduced Victoria Gold’s corporate taxes from 15 per cent to 12 per cent,” McLeod said.

“I suppose the only silver lining is that Victoria Gold will go out of business and the Eagle Project and Brewery Creek will no longer spoil our environment beyond all the damage they have already caused.”

In his opinion, McLeod, said heap leach pads, such as the one at the Eagle Mine, “are very sensitive to water and moisture content.”

He compared the situation at the mine to the 2022 and 2023 escarpment landslides along Robert Service Way in Whitehorse.

Those slides have been largely attributed to a buildup in water content in the clay cliffs, likely from abundant snowfall during two exceptional winters.

Once such areas are saturated, the likelihood of collapse in avalanches and landslides is  exponentially higher, McLeod said.

It would be very difficult to remediate the situation by then. Instead, water content must be managed on a proactive basis, he added.

“You can have liquefaction,” McLeod said.

Originally, the mine had a sump pump system installed on the heap leach pad but it was removed for some reason.

Sensors on the system would almost certainly have detected a leak, McLeod said.

He doesn’t believe the site was ever monitored properly, by the company or the government.

“They were warned about the danger,” McLeod said. “They miscalculated the moisture content in the heap leach pad. The management and monitoring was unreliable from day one.”

He also said the mine should never have been allowed. When a mine can’t be opened using conventional techniques, like the Eagle Mine, it shouldn’t be allowed to open at all, McLeod said.

“This shouldn’t have been allowed in this day and age.”

The Yukon Conservation Society (YCS) provided a prepared statement about the situation Friday.

“The YCS is deeply concerned about the recent landslide at Victoria Gold’s Eagle mine, which has led to a significant heap leach pad failure. The June 24 incident resulted in a massive collapse of ore stacks treated with cyanide solution, posing severe environmental risks,” the society said.

“YCS emphazises that Victoria Gold and the Yukon government’s nearly week-long delay in releasing crucial technical details is unacceptable. Transparency and timely communication are vital in managing the aftermath of such a critical incident.” 

The organization went on to say the “Yukon government, having granted the permits and approved the mine’s design, holds responsibility for ensuring stringent safety standards. This incident underscores the urgent need for rigorous oversight and raises concerns about the adequacy of current regulatory frameworks.

“It further questions the government’s capability and capacity to ensure environmental and human health through an apparent failure to monitor and prevent such catastrophes.”

The YCS would like to see an investigation to determine if the government and Victoria Gold Corp. failed to take proactive actions to prevent the disaster. 

This incident raises concerns about the safety of future projects like the proposed Casino mine, which involves far larger tailing dams and heap leach pads, the society pointed out.

“The YCS urges the Yukon government and Victoria Gold to address several critical questions about environmental and human health effects: 

1) Why did the heap leach dam fail? 

2) What steps will be taken to prevent such incidents in the future? 

3) Did recent routine inspections of the heap leach facility indicate that problems were accumulating? a) If so, what actions were ordered? If not, why not? 

4) When will the 2023 Victoria Gold Corp. Environmental Audit be released, and will it be public?

5) Why did the Yukon government take two days to formally address the incident? 

6) What steps is the government taking to ensure transparency and public safety?” 

Mining coordinator Kayla Brehon added, “The proposed Yukon New Mineral Legislation should be examined to see if it would have prevented this disaster. The new legislation must include safeguards to make the routine physical and financial collapses of Yukon’s mines a thing of the past.

“Furthermore, monitoring, compliance and testing capacity needs to be strengthened at the Yukon government’s level. Long waits for testing results are unacceptable. 

“Incidents like this validate our cautious stance on mining due to the high environmental and financial risks involved,” stated Brehon. “We must ensure that mining operations prioritize safety and environmental sustainability.”