The Supreme Court of Yukon Territory recently approved the sale of the abandoned Mount Nansen Mine site to the Alexco/JDS Group. The unique arrangement with the Alexco/JDS Group, allows the company to pursue future work at the mine while obligating them to remediate contamination from past mining activities at the site.
The abandoned Mount Nansen site is a former gold and silver mine located in the traditional territory of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, near the Village of Carmacks. As a Type II Mine site, the Canadian federal government accepted responsibility for its existing liabilities in the 2012 Yukon Devolution Transfer Agreement. The federal government provides 100% of the funding for site care and maintenance operations as well as for the development of long-term remediation plans. This funding is provided through the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan
The sale process began in 2016, when the Yukon Supreme Court appointed PriceWaterhouseCoopers Interim Receiver and Receiver-Manager of the mine’s former operator.
The sale of the mine was complicated by the fact that in involved the court-appointed receiver for the former owner of the mine, the Canadian federal government, the Yukon Territory government, and the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation.
Under the conditions of the sale, Alexexco/JDS Group must immediately accelerate work on the remediation plan that had been initiated by the Yukon government and submit it for regulatory approval. The Canadian government has committed funding to pay for the remediation.
Russell Blackjack, Chief of Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, stated in a news release: “After almost three decades of concern and constant pressure and monitoring from Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation government, the citizens of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation will be pleased to see the finalization of the agreements that will lead to the remediation of the abandoned BYG mine site at Mt. Nansen. ”
The new owners, Alexco/JDS Group, consists of Alexco (TSX: AXR / NYSE-American: AXU) , a primary silver company headquartered in Vancouver and JDS Energy & Mining Inc. , a Canadian-based resource development company with experience in mine design, development.
The Mount Nansen Mine is listed on the Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory. Approximately 5,400 hectares of land is contaminated at the site. There is also surface water contamination. Contaminants include petroleum hydrocarbons and metals.
The federal government estimates that clean-up of the site will cost $37 million with an additional $2.8 million for care and maintenance. It is estimated that the remediation of the mine site will take up to 10 years.
