A refiner pours bars of gold at a mine in Canada on Wednesday, August 24, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
MAYO, YUKON – Work has been temporarily stopped at a mine in central Yukon after what the company says was a failure of its system that uses chemicals to help extract gold.
Victoria Gold says its heap leach pad at the Eagle Gold Mine near Mayo experienced a failure, causing some damage to infrastructure and that “a portion of the failure has left containment.”
Heap leaching uses chemicals to percolate through crushed ore, allowing it to extract the gold.
A technical report on the company’s website says gold is being leached with a cyanide solution.
The company says no one was injured, and staff and management continue to assess the situation and gather information.
John Thompson, a spokesman for the Yukon Department of Energy Mines and Resources says in a statement that territorial natural resource officers will be investigating.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2024.
