MAYO, YUKON — A First Nation in central Yukon is demanding an immediate halt of all mining activity in its traditional territory, and an independent investigation into the recent failure of equipment at a gold mine which it says could be catastrophic. The First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun says in a statement that the severity of the environmental contamination from cyanide and other chemicals after a heap-leach pad failure at Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine hasn't been publicly revealed. The statement says the incident on June 24 is the most recent of many examples of how a lack of mining regulation and negligent government oversight is threatening community and wildlife health and safety.
Work has been voluntarily halted at the mine north of Mayo after the company announced the failure of its heap-leach pad, part of the system that uses a cyanide solution to extract gold from ore, and a subsequent slide. Yukon government officials said at a press conference last week that information was still being gathered on how much ore moved in the slide, how much cyanide was in the facility, what caused the collapse and whether any water was contaminated. A statement from Yukon government spokeswoman Laura Seeley says Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker will be part of a second technical briefing scheduled for Thursday and that the government remains committed to working with the First Nation "to determine a path forward.
" "Our top priority in the immediate term is safeguardi.
