The Yukon government is prepared to take over the remediation work at the Eagle Gold Mine, if necessary.

Lauren Haney, the deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, made that statement during a technical briefing session held this morning on the situation at the site, owned by Victoria Gold Corp.

That’s the most definitive answer yet by the territory in reaction to a statement the company made nearly a week ago that it may not be able to reopen operations nor afford to pay the rehabilitation costs of the major June 24 landslide involving the heap leach pad.

Until this point, the government’s reaction had been fairly muted.

Haney initially said the government was prepared to step in and help Victoria Gold manage the site, northeast of Mayo, in a “complementary or supportive” manner. 

“We agree the urgency is there,” she said.

After being questioned further by a reporter, she made a more definitive statement.

“We are ready to step in,” Haney said. “We are, of course, contemplating the possibility of taking it over.

“We are looking at all of the scenarios right now, and one of those scenarios is where we would be taking over activities at the site in a more complete way.”

There was no indication of how much that would cost taxpayers.

Haney was also critical of the way Victoria Gold has handled the cleanup following the landslide, which has potentially released a large volume of cyanide into the environment.

“It’s been very unfortunate and frankly unhelpful that the company has been so silent in general and specifically around the actions they are taking at the site,” Haney said. 

She said, though, matters have improved this week, with more information coming from Victoria Gold. Haney qualified that comment, though, by saying “not to say that it’s enough.

“We’ve learned a lot more about what they are doing at the site, and there is action being undertaken to protect the environment. They are diverting water, they are collecting water.

“To be very clear, the Yukon government is contemplating stepping in to complement or supplement what’s being done on site.”

That was the biggest news in an otherwise low-key briefing this morning.

“We’re going to share what we do know,” communications analyst John Thompson said as the session began.

The government has hired an environmental consulting firm, CoreGeo, based in the Yukon, to assist it in handling the situation.

Its staff will perform daily water sample tests and analysis,  said Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker.

Kelly Constable, the territorial director of mineral resources, was back after a one-week absence.

She said Victoria Gold is running out of water storage capacity at the site. For the next 10 to 15 days, the company will be pumping water back through the heap leach pad, in a closed system to gain more short-term space.

In the meantime, the company will be working out an emergency storage system that will expand capacity.

“The company maintains control of the site,” Constable said.

Streicker said the incident has created a “dynamic situation,” and emphasized any actions have to be done safely.

“We’re trying to respond as quickly as we can,” he said.

The latest water samples show some cyanide contamination, although it’s not at dangerous levels.

There are no signs of other dangerous contaminants, such as arsenic, in the tests, government staff said. Arsenic is often associated with heap leach mining operations.

Streicker said the government is still analyzing a request from the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun to end all mining activities in its territory.

He said the concept is under review, but added it’s a complex concept requiring a great deal of research and discussion.

The minister said he had meetings scheduled this weekend to talk about the request.

Victoria Gold has laid off many of its employees and has failed to respond to numerous media requests for information.