https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Victoria Gold Corp. chief executive officer John McConnell says he regrets staying silent while the company was in crisis, and suspects June’s catastrophic cyanide spill at its Yukon mine was caused by an uncontrolled buildup of fluid.
Four million tonnes of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed at the outdoor heap-leaching facility on June 24 and half of that spilled into the local environment beyond the company’s containment zone. The scale of the environmental damage is unknown, but the local First Nation fears the spill could devastate salmon fisheries, hunting grounds and groundwater. Dozens of dead fish were recently found in a creek near the mine and groundwater in the vicinity of the mine will have to be monitored for toxic cyanide for years to come.
Victoria Gold on Wednesday was put into receivership after Justice Barbara Conway of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice concluded that the Toronto-based miner wasn’t handling the emergency with enough urgency, and it likely won’t be able to fund the remediation of the site, which is now expected to cost up to $150-million.
For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-victoria-gold-ceo-regrets-silence-during-crisis-suspects-cyanide-spill/