Government of Yukon provides seventh technical briefing on the heap leach failure at Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine

On August 16, 2024, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Tracy-Anne McPhee provided an update on the Government of Yukon’s recent legal action concerning Victoria Gold Corporation. Additional technical briefing materials were provided by the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and the Department of Environment.

• During the week of August 12, 2024, the Government of Yukon made an application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to have a receiver appointed over the assets of Victoria Gold Corporation, including the Eagle Mine.
• The application was made in Ontario because the home office of Victoria Gold is based in Ontario.
• On Wednesday, August 14, the court granted the government’s application, appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers as the receiver.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers is an accounting firm responsible for the financial resolution throughout the mitigation and clean-up of Eagle Mine.
• The court also appointed Parsons Inc as the Lead Environmental Consultant.  Parsons will be responsible for the technical oversight and provide the necessary expertise during the cleanup of Eagle Mine.
• Parsons will work closely with PricewaterhouseCoopers to support the mitigation efforts, including compliance with the government’s directions.
• The court has granted authority to PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out the work directed by Yukon government inspectors under their statutory powers.

Next steps

• The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as receiver provides a transparent and public forum for all affected parties to voice their concerns and have them addressed in a court-supervised process.
• Moving forward, the Government of Yukon will continue to maintain communication with the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun as all parties work with the receiver and the Lead Environmental Consultant to carry out the necessary mitigation work.
• The Government of Yukon commits to frequent updates to the public about the cleanup efforts at the Eagle Gold Mine Site.

Water diversion

• Victoria Gold has completed the work directed by inspectors to extend the Dublin Gulch diversion pipe.
• The pipe collects clean water above the mine site, diverting it past the site and discharging it into Haggart Creek.
• The extension will help prevent the water in Haggart Creek from being contaminated by groundwater surfacing in the lower Dublin Gulch drainage.

Status of the safety berm construction

• On July 20, 2024, inspectors ordered Victoria Gold to build a safety berm across the slide area to allow for groundwater monitoring wells to be installed.
• Victoria Gold did not follow this direction, requiring the Yukon government to intervene.
• The government intended to have contractors begin construction of the berm.
• The cooperation of Victoria Gold was required in confirming that health and safety protocols would apply to the hired contractors.
• Victoria Gold expressed concerns with this direction and the proposed plans and the company did not provide the necessary cooperation, forcing a delay in the berm’s construction.
• The receiver's appointment removed some of these obstacles and work is expected to begin shortly.

Unplanned water discharge

• On Saturday, August 11, 2024, Victoria Gold notified government inspectors that a programming error had resulted in the unplanned release of two cubic meters of treated water.
• Victoria Gold’s internal sampling results have not yet been received.
• No additional fish mortalities have been observed.
• Victoria Gold installed a mechanical gate to prevent similar events from occurring in the future.
• Compliance, Monitoring and Inspection is expecting to receive the water quality testing results when they are available.

Water monitoring

• Water samples collected between August 3 and 8 show that the cyanide levels in Haggart Creek have returned to levels similar to what was observed prior to the discharge that occurred from July 31 to August 2, which is generally between 0.003 and 0.006 mg/L.
• This is around the chronic, or long-term, aquatic life guideline of 0.005 mg/L for cyanide, and well below the drinking water guideline for cyanide which is 0.2 mg/L. 
• In addition to the cyanide results, data show increases in ammonia and nitrate in Haggart Creek during the discharge period.
• These increases in ammonia and nitrate remained below relevant guidelines and objectives, and similarly returned to pre-discharge levels on August 3, 2024.
• There is equipment in place at various locations in Haggart Creek that measures the temperature of the water every five minutes.
• No significant impact was observed on water temperature in Haggart Creek through the duration of the discharge.
• Water monitoring in Haggart Creek also includes other parameters such as metals, chloride and hardness.
• No adverse impacts to these parameters were observed during the discharge period.
• Cyanide was the primary contaminant that was observed in Haggart Creek following the discharge and it moved through Haggart Creek within a two-day period.

Fish monitoring

• Additional work is ongoing this week between the Government of Yukon and the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun, in a separate watershed to acquire Arctic grayling tissue samples to further improve our understanding of heavy metal accumulation within Nacho Nyak Dun’s Traditional Territory.
• This work will help long-term comparative analysis efforts within Haggart Creek.
• The Department of Environment and the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun continue to implement long-term fish and water monitoring efforts in the area, which will include direction to the receiver’s environmental consultant to ensure all work maintains the ecological integrity of the area and allows the detection of change over time.