Victoria Gold Corp VITFF

What is truly amazing is how this pad is designed

[mdjbrown]

and that the embankment was not built at least twice as high for containment in the event of a 60 million tonne slope failure.

This sloped leach pad is constructed in a valley by continued piling of millions of tonnes of loose 10mm ore sitting directly on a steep slippery liner, and that ore is being continually saturated through miles of pipe networked throughout the pad.   

If the dozer operator and the other accounts of a pipe leak they couldnt find are correct, it wouldnt take much to undermine a portion of the pad causing a soft spot and the rest is history.  It just needed a nudge, and the dozer may have been just enough to start that nudge.

This would explain why the dozer simply slide down on top of the material, and didnt violently roll into the developing slide as the base slide out from underneath him.

[Zibo510]

The government MIGHT condemn the site permanently because the HLP is built on a steep hillside, is there another safer location for a new pad?

[widrig]

Not possible, nowhere to put it

[widrig]

PS; even if there was room to put another leach pad,  they would never get a permit for it imo 

[mdjbrown]

Zibo, the company built that steep hillside.  This location they chose was a valley prior to starting construction.     Imo the simple solution would be to drastically reduce the slope of the HLP, especially at the top. As more info is released it would appear they may have exceeded the design parameters of this HLP, and would explain earlier comments that the the HLP seemed

[HuskySW]

Jbrown Interesting as there were many inspections by engineers, consultants and mine managment.  If this is the "they" then one can expect a lot of reports in the near future. I am certain that these reports will be investigated for over stacking, over-leaching and a lot of structural  reports that  would have had sign off. I for one want to see those reports. 

[Zibo510]

The reasons as to why the HLP failed will be answered once the investigation is completed which won't be soon, although I think this MB has determined what a number of the causes will likely be part of the conclusion.  The immediate concern for shareholders, is  the survival of VG. The slide occurred on 24 June and on 30 June VG defaulted on 8 million payment of the loan. This

[HuskySW]

I would tend to agree (best guess based on photo's).  But whether or not CAT was the catalyst for all the event or just the final event is a TBD. Imo I stand by my previous guess that it was a lot of things coming together. Imo What has bugged me since day one is the rotational shear.  The shear that was left standing was a different consistany than the underneath  consistancy

[Freezerburn]

Victoria Gold warns it might not reopen Yukon gold mine or have the money to remediate it

[mdjbrown]

Just a thought HuskySW, but if the solution did not intrude into the second liner, the detectors would not have gone into alert as gravity fed solution flows down the HLP top liner 24 hours a day to the sump as designed. Other than possibly a greater volume of solution, it would been hard to detect and business as usual until the erosion finally undermined the stacked area. It is really amazing

[HuskySW]

jbrown, I have seen breachs, falls, niagra type intrusions have been in blast zones by operators quick on the trigger (it's hard to breath) lol.  This one is a new one on me though I have seen undermined earth structures (dams) and so forth... I agree, for sure I am not a geotech expert or was in on the design of the HLP.  I am not aware of a second membrane (at every "lift