Mercury downstream of Yukon mining disaster, other chemicals also above ‘objectives’

WHITEHORSE — The Yukon government says mercury has been detected in water samples three kilometres downstream from a gold mine disaster that spilled several million tonnes of contaminated rock in June.

A statement from the territorial government says elevated mercury levels were found at four sampling sites above “water quality objectives,” and other tests have shown cobalt and cyanide levels above the quality standards in Haggart Creek near the Eagle Gold mine site.

The mining operation used chemicals to extract gold, and the government update says more sampling is being done to test for methyl mercury, the kind that accumulates in animals, after it was found in samples collected in mid-October.

The Yukon government says the contaminants in Haggart Creek, about 480 kilometres north of Whitehorse, are above water quality guideline but don’t “pose a heightened risk” to peoples’ health who live downstream.

The statement says people should still not eat fish caught near the mine site, where work continues on a water treatment plant and after a safety berm was finished, which the mine’s owner failed to build despite being ordered to do so.

It says the wintertime will be used to study the stability of the mine’s failed heap leach facility and to figure out how to stabilize it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press