Casino Gold mining will transport 20 truck loads daily of cyanide into the Yukon.
I am deeply concerned that the government does not have adequate regulations, enforcement staff and procedures to ensure the proposed Casino Gold mine does not contaminate the Yukon River.
At a recent open house in Whitehorse, officials with the Casino Gold Mining Company detailed their proposed mining operation for the Selkirk region near Carmacks.
The officials say they will run 20 trucks a day along Yukon highways transporting cyanide, a toxic chemical used in extracting gold from ore. The cyanide will be sprayed on a pile of ore over 600 metres in height.
This process, called “cyanide heap leaching,” takes place on low grade ore. It creates a huge volume of mine waste held behind a dam and tailings facility that is seven kilometers long, along Dip Creek that flows into the Yukon River.
The waste is heaped onto a rubber underlay to prevent chemical seepage into the ground.
However, heap leach extraction poses severe risks to the environment.
The rubber membrane sometimes leak. Dams have leaked, spilled and broken – e.g. the Mount Polley spill in northern B.C. Increasing precipitation due to climate change may create spring flooding and make run-off predictions unreliable.
Increased flooding risk and inadequate effluent treatment have already been a challenge with abandoned mining operations here in the Yukon – e.g. Minto Mine, Mt. Nansen, Faro. This area is also in an earthquake zone.
The Casino Gold Mine will be close to the Yukon River. This proposal directly threatens the health of the watershed, the plants, animals, fish and people who depend on the river.
From our estimates Victoria Gold brings in approximately 8-10 truckloads of cyanide daily along the highway. Victoria Gold is about the size of the proposed Coffee Creek Mine
The proposed Coffee Creek mine in the Dawson area will be trucking in 11 loads of cyanide a day.
Casino plans to bring in 20 truckloads of cyanide daily. Can the environment survive 41 truckloads of cyanide a day being dumped on rock to extract gold?
Do we want to leave a legacy of contaminated land and water for our children?
We contend that we do not need this kind of mining in the Yukon.
How is your government going to mitigate the colossal cyanide damage that this type of mining will do to our water and environment?
YUKONERS, LET MINISTERS JOHN STREICKER AND NILS CLARKE KNOW WE DON’T NEED THIS TYPE OF MINING IN THE YUKON!
Donald J. Roberts
Chair of Yukoners
Concerned