On a small hill within eyeshot of YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 skyline sit 365 sea cans sealed off behind a high wire fence, the surrounding roads regularly watered to settle dust.
The cans contain remains of an old roaster building from the notorious Giant Mine, its every beam and timber steeped in poison from more than a half-century of separating gold from the arsenic that held it.
SA国际影视传媒淚t was one of the most contaminated buildings in Canada,SA国际影视传媒� said Natalie Plato, deputy director of the Giant Mine Remediation Project.
SheSA国际影视传媒檚 in charge of spending some $1 billion of taxpayersSA国际影视传媒� money on one of the largest cleanups the country has ever undertaken. It includes a plan to freeze 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide in underground chambers where they now sit. That toxic Popsicle just off the shores of Great Slave Lake will sit there forever SA国际影视传媒� or until someone has a better idea.
The sea cans are one of many signs that work is underway, seven years after the remediation plan was approved.
But the siteSA国际影视传媒檚 future, if it has one, remains in doubt. Local residents and the First Nations to whom the land originally belonged donSA国际影视传媒檛 know how theySA国际影视传媒檒l live in perpetuity beside a mess thatSA国际影视传媒檚 too big to clean up.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a really big question,SA国际影视传媒� said Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty. SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檒l see what the science says.SA国际影视传媒�
Fred Sangris, chief of the Yellowknives Dene, said his people increasingly refer to the mine as an underground monster that has killed the land where they used to hunt, fish and pick berries.
SA国际影视传媒淭hat whole piece of land is lost. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 dead. It is sad.SA国际影视传媒�
Economic driver
Giant Mine operated from 1948 to 2005 and was one of the reasons the city developed in the first place.
For decades, it helped drive the local economy. Many northerners have fond memories of mine-sponsored hockey teams and other contributions to Yellowknife life.
But in 1992, it became the site of a bitter strike that culminated in the murders of nine strikebreaking miners in an underground explosion. Divisions left by the strike remain.
The mine produced a total of 220 tonnes of gold SA国际影视传媒� enough for a wall two metres high, a metre wide and six metres long SA国际影视传媒� by the time its final owner, Royal Oak Mines, went bankrupt and bequeathed the site to Canadian taxpayers.
Left behind were 900 hectares with 100 buildings, including a small townsite. Many of the structures are full of asbestos. There are eight open pits and six tailings ponds. Everywhere you look are house-sized piles of rusting pipe, derelict machinery and assorted junk.
Much of the land has been left unstable by subterranean chambers.
But the biggest problem is the arsenic, which was released as gold was separated from ore.
An estimated 13.5 tonnes of arsenic-contaminated soil remains on the surface. The astounding tonnage underground SA国际影视传媒� enough to kill every Canadian several times over SA国际影视传媒� was simply blown back almost 100 metres deep into 13 mined-out chambers, some big enough to swallow an 11-storey building.
There it sits SA国际影视传媒� huge piles of it, not even sealed in barrels or lined pits.
The arsenic is highly soluble. On its own, it would likely leach into groundwater and enter the bordering Great Slave Lake.
SA国际影视传媒楤and-Aid solutionSA国际影视传媒�
Years of study and debate ended in 2014 with the conclusion that it was too dangerous, difficult and expensive to remove the arsenic. Instead, it is to be protected by 858 thermosiphons keeping the rock at a steady -5 C and freezing in place any water moving through the area.
Water currently seeping into the mine below the frozen block will be pumped out, treated to drinking-water quality, then released.
This will go on for at least 100 years, unless science finds an alternative. If not, it will go on forever.
Nobody is that happy about it.
SA国际影视传媒淗ow long is forever?SA国际影视传媒� asked Sangris, who wanted the arsenic removed and disposed of at a waste disposal site in Alberta.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a Band-Aid solution. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 not a real solution.
SA国际影视传媒淐anada put this dangerous plant on our doorstep and weSA国际影视传媒檙e not comfortable with it. They want to put it to rest the cheapest way possible.SA国际影视传媒�
The Yellowknives are negotiating with Ottawa over a compensation package for loss of use of the land as well as apology for how it was taken from them in the first place.
Alty said the mineSA国际影视传媒檚 old townsite might be made safe enough for housing development. The rest might be used as an industrial park, a campground or a public recreation area.
SA国际影视传媒淭he old townsite, yes. The rest of it, not likely. What can you put on that land?SA国际影视传媒�
Plato is cautious about promises. She said the project has committed to restoring the old townsite to residential standards and the rest to industrial criteria.
There will be exceptions. Areas where thermosiphons sink into the arsenic chambers will remain fenced and off limits. Development will be restricted over the old underground pits.
SA国际影视传媒淵ou wouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 build a skyscraper on a pit. There will be some limitations.SA国际影视传媒�
For now, Northerners just want to ensure they get the jobs.
Federal officials say about $648 million in contracts have already been issued, with $313 million of that going to Indigenous companies.
About 80 people are now on the site. When the work peaks in 2031, about 260 full-time equivalent jobs SA国际影视传媒� mostly heavy equipment operators SA国际影视传媒� are expected to be created.
Cost rising
Kevin OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly, a territorial legislature member, was long active on the Giant Mine file as an environmentalist before entering politics. He said the North needs training programs to prepare locals to do more than run bulldozers.
SA国际影视传媒淧eople here should be senior managers,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淧eople are starting to talk about a remediation economy. We may be able to offer some of the experience weSA国际影视传媒檝e gained here to other parts of the world.SA国际影视传媒�
The remediation will last as long as the life of many mines. It is expected to take until 2038, seven years longer than first estimated.
The budget is likely to be similarly extended. The last estimate, just shy of $1 billion, is seven years old and was made before the timeline was stretched. Taxpayers wonSA国际影视传媒檛 learn how much cleaning up the mess will now cost them until Oct. 27, when new estimates go to the Treasury Board.
OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly worries that over time, people will forget about the hazards and grow inured to their risks.
SA国际影视传媒淲hat do you do to communicate to future generations whatSA国际影视传媒檚 there?SA国际影视传媒� he asked. SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檝e got to find a way to remember what happened.SA国际影视传媒�
Meanwhile, Giant will continue to haunt the North. It helped shape the city that Yellowknife has become and its ultimate fate will be a powerful force in its future.
By then, those 365 sea cans will be moved and dumped into one of the underground chambers. They will sit atop the mighty dunes of arsenic dust, frozen in time and memory until who knows when.
SA国际影视传媒� By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
