FNNND Heritage LandChief Dawna Hope of the Na-Cho Nyk Dun First Nation told CBC News her First Nation was notified of the "significant" slide at the mine site early Monday. The mine sits on the First Nation's traditional territory. John Thompson, a spokesperson for the Yukon government, also told CBC News in an email earlier Monday afternoon that Victoria Gold had reported a "heap leach failure" at the mine. He said investigations were underway.
The heap leach facility at the mine site uses a cyanide solution to percolate through ore, stacked in 10-metre layers, to dissolve the gold. The company's website say approximately a million tonnes of ore is processed each month by that method.