There are indications the landslide at the Eagle Mine north of Mayo is not as stable as the Yukon government is claiming.
A source presented The Yukon Star this morning with photographic evidence clearly showing the slide area where the heap leach pad failed at the mine on June 24 is still on the move.
The government has been saying there is still potential for more movement in the landslide, but hasn’t acknowledged it has and is still happening.
John Thompson, a communications officer with the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, said this morning. “As we’ve said before, the area is unstable, and that is why we aren’t able to get close to where the slide occurred.
“One of the inspector’s directions we issued asks the company to develop a plan to stabilize the slide area downgrade of the heap leach embankment. This will allow work to be safely done on the lower part of the slide.”
Thompson said Victoria Gold Corp., the company that owns the mine, is using an LIDAR sensor to continually monitor the slope stability, but he didn’t say whether movement has been detected.
“I’ll check on that.
“We are working closely with the Yukon Workers’ Safety and Compensation Board to understand the risks at the site and ensuring the appropriate monitoring and evacuation plans are in place.
“We are also working with our technical experts to understand the risks on site and appropriate mitigation measures to address risks identified.”
The mine is a heap leach operation, with the heap leach pad located near the top of a valley.
Something, likely water contamination, caused the heap leach pad to collapse and created a landslide 1.5 kilometres long that has at least partially filled the valley it overlooks.
More than four million tonnes of materials have been displaced, with approximately half of it out of containment.
The latest water samples have revealed no trace of cyanide contamination in the groundwater – contrary to what was found last week.
Meanwhile, a former mine employee told the Star this week an incident that occurred earlier this year should have served as a wake-up call for the recent landslide.
“They ran everything really well and tried their best to do everything properly,” he said in an interview.
“But when you have a failure on the heap leaching pad in one area, you really should examine the whole thing. It’s like taking a step back and asking, ‘did we do this right?’” the source said.
It cost the company about $30 million to clean up the site, the ex-employee said. The company department the person worked for had the ability to purchase equipment, but after the incident, its budget was cut to save money, he said.
“‘Don’t buy anything.’ They basically shut us down for about two months,” the former worker said.
The person added the company had been monitoring the land movement while crews were blasting and digging.
However, the ex-worker believes something went wrong during that operation. When the crew subsequently transferred material from one area to another, part of the bench fell off. Then, the mass of the bench penetrated the liner June 24 as the material kept stacking.
The former worker is unsure whether the company can ever resume operations at the site.
He said one of the senior engineers informed him last week he has received a layoff notice without a specified return-to-work date.