Government of Yukon provides an update on heap leach failure at Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine

The Government of Yukon continues to closely monitor and respond to the impacts of the June 24, 2024, heap leach facility failure at Victoria Gold Corporation’s Eagle Gold Mine on the Traditional Territory of the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun.

Activities on-site

New camp constructed

• New camp sleeping quarters have been set up at the mine site in a safe area.
• The original camp and temporary camp established by Victoria Gold Corp. were determined to be unsafe due to health and safety concerns.
• The new safe camp area was required before Pelly Construction workers could begin construction of the safety berm.

On-site groundwater monitoring

• CoreGeo has installed seven groundwater wells between the slide and Haggart Creek, and more are planned.
• These wells provide critical information on where to focus efforts to monitor and intercept contaminated groundwater.
• Initial water quality results from the wells should be available in the next two weeks.

Berm construction beginning

• Pelly Construction is beginning work in the coming days on the safety berm, across the slide area and its access road.
• The safety berm will allow for additional groundwater monitoring wells to be safely installed near the slide area.
• Precautions are being taken to protect workers building the berm.
• This includes having onsite monitoring to detect any slope instability and having plans in place to stop work and move workers away from an area if new slide movement is observed.

Water storage

• Progress is being made to build additional lined storage ponds, as current water capacity is inadequate.
• Work has begun to design and construct storage ponds in other locations.

Water monitoring

• From August 21 to 28, low and non-detect concentrations of cyanide were observed at all surface water monitoring locations in Haggart Creek.
• Concentrations of weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide during this period have been below 0.0013 mg/L in Haggart Creek. This level of WAD cyanide is well below the relevant guideline for the protection of aquatic life, which is 0.005 mg/L.
• This is still a dynamic situation that always has the potential to change and water monitoring in the receiving environment is ongoing.

Fish monitoring

• The joint Government of Yukon and First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun fisheries monitoring program concluded its summer work.
• Tissue samples from collected fish will be analyzed for heavy metal contamination, including arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury to help us form a baseline for these bioaccumulating metals. Analysis will be beginning soon, with results expected by early 2025. 
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued an order to the receiver last week regarding previously installed fish fences. These additional measures will support migration while still protecting fish adjacent to the mine site.
• Conversations are ongoing to ensure mitigation measures do not disrupt the fall migration of these freshwater fish.
• There have been no new reports of further fish die-offs in Haggart Creek.

Receivership

• PricewaterhouseCoopers is the court-appointed receiver for Victoria Gold Corp. and the mine site, and is responsible for overseeing remediation of the heap leach failure and its environmental impacts.  
• This week, members of the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Parsons teams visited the Eagle Gold mine site and met with leadership from the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun.
• Updates from the receiver are posted at the PricewaterhouseCoopers Victoria Gold web page, including answers to frequently asked questions for the general public and Victoria Gold workers.  
• The receiver can be reached by email at ca_victoriagold@pwc.com.