Ed. note: this is an open letter to Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker.
Dublin Gulch – how I loved that place.
Sixty-five years ago, I walked from Elsa to Frank Taylor’s placer mine on Dublin Gulch. Later, it would be mined by Ron Holloway. In those days, the gold price was low, but all the mining people were happy.
Today, it is a very sad place, and will remain that way for years.
Haggart Creek should now be renamed Cyanide Creek, as the water can no longer quench the thirst.
Haggart Creek supported placer mining families more than 100 years. They worked hard and respected the environment.
So, we go from a peaceful, optimistic Haggart Creek to Victoria Gold, whose heap leach failure, I am afraid, is going to be pushed under the rug with the deathly silence of its management and the Yukon government.
Why does my commentary on this disaster make me different than many analysts?
I was on mine rescue teams with extensive rescue and first aid experience for years. I was with the Whitehorse Copper mine rescue team sent to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1978. This was to partake in the National Mine Rescue Competition. We won the competition.
For the rest of our lives, we never stopped thinking mine safety – for both surface and underground.
For 50 years in the mining industry, I was involved in mine rescue and first aid, was a shaft inspector for eight years, a shift boss, and had a solid practical mining background.
Mr. John Streicker: I mention my experience because I am requesting that you and your deputy minister give us a role in investigating the reasons behind the Victoria Gold heap leach failure.
It could well be that your inspectors and engineers were not experienced or qualified enough to oversee the Victoria Gold project. We could determine this independently, one way or the other.
The history of questionable work practices at the processing plant has caused several cyanide spills that were clearly dubious work practices or poor engineering design, or both.
Only an independent investigation with the involvement of experienced Yukon people will ensure that the government’s role as regulator and inspector of mines on First Nations land and Crown land was undertaken according to law.
Mr. Streicker: I hope you are very much capable of implementing an investigation. Perhaps you could ask for police assistance. They seem to be the last people we can trust to look after the land.
I would like to stress that it appears many inspectors and engineers in your department are guilty of not doing their jobs properly. How many of them have had experience designing or installing a cyanide plant?
Why would anyone allow a heap leach facility to be built on the side of a hill in the Yukon, where we have unpredictable amounts of snow, rain and permafrost? This should have been a no-no from day one!
I do not believe proper safety inspections in the plant happened. There should be a complete written record in the daily mine book. Is there?
I understand there is no mining engineer at all at the worker’s compensation board. How is this possible for a board that is supposed to investigate mine and process safety?
Mr. Streicker: this accident will be kaput for Victoria Gold.
It is important – now – that your department gives the First Nations people of Mayo the assurance that their land will be cleaned up.
They must be given a contract to do this, if they wish, and be trained and assisted by qualified mining personnel.
The Yukon government requires experienced regulators and inspectors. If you rely on your usual consultants who, in many ways, are responsible for this mess, it will be swept under the rug and the people will pay.
Do you and Premier Pillai have any regrets about wholeheartedly supporting the Association of Mineral Exploration in giving Victoria Gold an award for excellence in mine development in 2020?
If you do this investigation properly, you will be representing us for a long time.
Otherwise, if we must make the decisions, you and your government will not win re-election.
Erich Stoll
Whitehorse
