Victoria Gold’s Eagle gold mine north of Mayo, Yukon is seen in this aerial photo taken on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.HO/The Canadian Press
The Yukon government is trying to place Victoria Gold Corp. into receivership to gain more control over the site of a major cyanide spill in the territory.
Over the past six weeks, Victoria Gold has been attempting to mitigate the environmental damage caused by a devastating rockfall that occurred on June 24 on the tailings leach pad at its Eagle Mine.
Eagle is located approximately 375 kilometres north of Whitehorse and 85 kilometres north of the village of Mayo on the traditional territory of the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation.
Whitehorse-based Victoria Gold said in a press release before the stock market opened on Wednesday that it had been served with a request to appoint a receiver. When companies are placed into receivership, management loses the authority to make decisions about the company’s future.
Victoria Gold’s management and the Yukon government are at odds over how best to deal with the disaster. Yukon was already forced to step in and take over some of the environmental protection measures late last month after Victoria Gold failed to follow a key government directive to build a protective dam. At the time, a Yukon official said the government was prepared to take full control if necessary.
Four million tons of cyanide-contaminated rock collapsed in the open-air gold processing facility and half of it entered the environment outside the company’s exclusion zone.
Last week, Yukon officials said dead fish found in a stream near the mine were likely killed by pollutants discharged from the mine.
Yukon officials have repeatedly publicly reprimanded Victoria Gold management for not disclosing enough information about the disaster. The Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation has also publicly called for Victoria Gold management to be fired.
Victoria Gold has attempted to store and treat the contaminated water remaining at the mine site, but the lack of adequate storage capacity has been a major problem.
Yukon has $103.7 million it received from Victoria Gold that could be used for cleanup. The funds were originally intended to be used to rehabilitate and remediate the site if the company did not have the financial means to do so.
