NEWS ROUNDUP — BYG chastized for negligence

A Yukon judge has slammed B.Y.G. Natural Resources (BYG-A) for environmental negligence at the Mt. Nansen gold mine, 60 km west of Carmacks in the Yukon Territory.

Judge Heino Lilles convicted the company of three contraventions to the Yukon Waters Act and imposed the maximum fine of $100,000 for each count, with three months to pay. All three counts involved breaches to the water licence held by the company at the ill-fated gold mine. Operations have since been suspended, and the mine is now in the hands of a receiver-manager.

The court heard that the company’s problems began in 1995, after it received its water licence to develop the mine. Witnesses testified that the tailings dam began leaking “almost immediately,” and that the water treatment plant did not work according to specifications. The company was criticized for its ongoing failure to address these and other outstanding issues.

Early this year, government inspectors found the mine shut down, with only a small staff on site to perform maintenance work. The cleanup is estimated to cost between $4 million and $8 million.