Once a darling of Yukon miningThe Spectacular Fall of Victoria Gold, Once the Darling of Yukon Mining Taxpayers will be stuck paying for the cleanup of the Eagle mine disaster
All under the watchfull eye by YTG, EMR and inspections by various professionals.
"It was a spectacular fall for a company that was once the darling of Yukon mining. Victoria Gold seemed to be sincere about doing things right. The company spent years forming a solid relationship with Na-Cho Nyk Dun. The two parties signed a cooperation and benefits agreement back in 2011. As part of that, Victoria Gold spent millions funding post-secondary scholarships for the First Nation’s citizens. The company also donated to Yukon groups and events, and raised money for programs to boost school attendance—efforts that won it regional and national awards."
"Eagle had a wider economic impact on the territory. Air North, the territorial airline, began offering regular flights to Mayo, the community closest to the mine. Work flowed to local businesses and contractors. With about 600 employees overall, Victoria Gold was the Yukon’s largest private-sector employer."
"Eagle was especially valued because its success came on the heels of other mine failures. Yukon Zinc, which operated the Wolverine mine in central Yukon, closed in 2015, citing low commodity prices. A couple months later, the company sought creditor protection and restructured, then, in 2019, went into receivership and filed for bankruptcy. The Yukon government is now responsible for reclamation. Last year, Minto Metals abandoned its copper, gold, and silver mine, apparently due to financial troubles. The company stiffed businesses and contractors and left taxpayers to shoulder remediation costs again." "When McConnell finally spoke to the CBC, he assured that Victoria Gold had no plans to abandon the site, stating, “We’re doing everything humanly possible to prevent this from becoming a major environmental disaster.”
"After McConnell was fired, his carefully crafted image seemed to collapse as well. H
e sent out a tone-deaf email: “The past 15 years have been a blast and I’m very proud of what our team accomplished. Stay tuned for my next adventure!”" Was Mr McConnell mad, yes most likely he was really mad by the treatment of being summarily fired. As a side note is the next adventure BYN? Tara has been noted as mentioning BYN in response to the last $40m influx from the last recent federal "donation".
"Former workers have alleged unsafe practices, according to the trade journal
The Northern Miner, and the Yukon government has said a smaller slide happened back in January. Na-Cho Nyk Dun wants a public inquiry. The “disaster is a symptom of a larger, systemic, issue plaguing mining regulation in Yukon,” the First Nation wrote in an open letter. “The consequence of regulatory negligence and a business-as-usual approach at an unsafe and unsound site now hangs over taxpayers’ heads.”
It will remain to beseen if this "incident" will be the crossroads of a more aware YTG, EMR and FN in regards what happens when a mine fails.
Of all the hundreds if not thousands of documents produced in the last 20 years on this mine it all came down to "immediate closure" because we don't like what you did and are now doing. In other words the paper in actuality is landfill material.
https://thewalrus.ca/the-spectacular-fall-of-victoria-gold-once-the-darling-of-yukon-mining/