'We're not out of the woods yet': Victoria Gold CEO speaks publicly for 1st time since heap leach failure
CBC
The president and CEO of Victoria Gold says there's still a lot of work to do before the heap leach failure at the company's Eagle mine site near Mayo, Yukon, is contained — but the company has no intention of leaving the site.
Speaking publicly Tuesday — the first time he has done so since the heap leach pad went down on June 24 — John McConnell said he believes there is no longer the potential for major environmental impacts from the failure, which is believed to have released up to 300,000 cubic metres of toxic sodium cyanide solution.
McConnell said Victoria Gold's focus is on treating water at the site, and it has hired experts to investigate the cause of the failure.
McConnell's comments come after experts with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun and government inspection reports raised the alarm about the company's efforts to contain the solution.
Last week, the Yukon government announced it was hiring its own contractors to build a berm in the area where the heap leach pad failed. The government also said it was detecting increased cyanide in the water.
In a news release Tuesday, Victoria Gold said its own water sampling has detected "trace amounts" of cyanide in Haggart Creek.
McConnell spoke to CBC's Jackie Hong about what the company is doing and what its plan for the future of the mine site is.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
We've heard from some Yukon officials who said it's been frustrating that Victoria Gold hasn't spoken publicly since the heap leach failure. Why are you choosing to speak now?
Well, we've been heads down, tails up, working extremely hard, and really haven't had time.
I think we're starting to get things under control at the site and have some — I wouldn't say positive news, but some good news.
So it's time to get out there and talk about it. But everybody's been working extremely hard.
And is that good news contained in that update that went out this morning or is there additional good news that you can share?
No, I think that was generally good news. We're at a place where we're starting to treat water now and things are in much better control than they were two weeks ago.