This makes the cleanup of the former gold mine the most expensive remediation project in Canada’s abandoned mine remediation program. The previous cost estimate of $1 billion was developed in 2010 and that was a “pure construction cost estimate,” Natalie Plato, deputy director of the Giant Mine Remediation Project, said Thursday after unveiling the new estimate. The project has changed significantly since then, he said. The remediation of the Giant Mine is an extremely complex undertaking involving 237,000 tons of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust deep underground. When asked why the original estimate was so lower than today’s, Plato said “when we went in, we went in wanting to complete this project and we didn’t do extensive consultation.” Plato, who said she was not involved in the beginning of the project, said they were referred to an environmental assessment and heard that Yellowknife residents wanted more consultation, more involvement and more work at the site. “All of this comes at a cost,” he said. Natalie Plato is the deputy director of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. Plato said much has changed since the original cost estimate for the restoration project, including expansions in the project’s scope and schedule. (Liny Lamberink/CBC)
$710 million has been spent on the project to date, Plato says
The budget for the restoration project is not publicly available.
Plato said that’s because their work is done through competitive bids and requests for proposals, and “those are protected so contractors don’t absorb our costs, because that can jeopardize the contracting process.”
The $4.38 billion estimate was drawn up by the restoration project team and approved by Finance Canada. It includes all project costs from 2005 to 2038, when the restoration is due to be completed.
Plato said the updated price takes into account contingencies (ie possible unexpected expenses), inflation, GST rates and the $710 million spent on the restoration project so far.
Plato said a lot has changed since the original cleanup cost came out.
First, the environmental assessment resulted in 26 legally binding measures aimed at minimizing the project’s negative environmental impacts and consequent public concerns.
One of these measures was the creation of the six-member supervisory board of the giant mines.
Another was the multi-year health effects monitoring program, which tests people in the nearby communities of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah for arsenic concentrations in their urine and fingernails.
Through consultations, the group heard that northerners wanted northerners to benefit from the restoration project, Plato said.
To make sure that local companies and people could bid and carry out work at the mine site, the project team extended its program by nine years “to ensure that the work is the right size for the northerners,” said Plato. “So even that has a cost.”
The restoration project says that to date, $331 million in contracts — 51 percent of the total value of contracts awarded — have gone to Indigenous contractors.
Here are rows and rows of about 360 shipping containers, filled with the toxic remains of the roaster building that separated the gold from the rocks. Although the restoration is due to be completed in 2038, the mine will need maintenance in perpetuity. Plato said the federal government has committed to looking after the mine site for 100 years. (Priscilla Hwang/CBC)
The consultations also led to changes in the scope of the project, Plato said.
The team originally planned to leave eight pits open, but after hearing concerns about health, safety and underground flooding at the mine, the team decided to fill the pits.
They also designed Baker Creek to accommodate a major flood. Baker Creek carries tailings pond water, which is treated to meet or exceed regulatory requirements, into Yellowknife Bay.
A benefits agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation was also not included in the original restoration plan, Plato said. This agreement is valued at $2 million per year for the life of the project.
He said the benefits agreement includes money for training and positions for members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
“Hey, there’s so many other things, too,” said Plato, when listing the factors that drove up costs.
A facility pond at the Giant Mine site on September 21, 2022. “A lot more work needs to be done, but I think we’re in some ways better than we were 10, 15 years ago,” said Yellowknife MLA Kevin O’Reilly. (Liny Lamberink/CBC)
Kevin O’Reilly, MLA for Frame Lake in Yellowknife, said he wasn’t surprised to see the costs balloon.
“Given the mess that the government has allowed to happen there, these are costs that are necessary to try to protect the public from the health effects of the arsenic that was produced at the mine site,” he said.
“So, yes, I think we need to spend that money, and I think it’s very important that we do it right.”
O’Reilly said the long-term monitoring and maintenance of the mine site will certainly exhaust the cost decades and even centuries into the future. For example, the government should make sure that arsenic remains contained, properly store records, and communicate what happened at the mine to future generations.
“There’s a lot more work to be done, but I think we’re in some ways better than we were 10, 15 years ago,” he said, “but I’d rather spend that money on almost anything else.”
The federations to cover the vast majority of costs
The federal government will cover most of the restoration costs. Plato said the Northwest Territories government is proposing about $20 million. He said part of the district’s contribution included rerouting the Ingraham Trail, which ran right through the mine. The CBC tried to verify the region’s contribution with the NWT government, but did not receive a response Thursday. David Livingstone, chairman of the Giant Mine Oversight Board, was not available for an interview, but said in an emailed statement that, “The Giant Mine Oversight Board was only recently informed of the new estimates and will withhold comment until it receives and review relevant background information from the Project Team.” Although the restoration is due to be completed in 2038, the mine will need maintenance in perpetuity. Plato said the federal government has committed to looking after the mine site for 100 years. This means that funding for the restoration project is protected, regardless of who is in government. Liability for the Giant Mine was placed on the federal government after a former owner Royal Oak Mines Inc. placed into receivership in 1999. According to Plato, the federal government has learned from the disastrous result. “We’ve changed the way we allow mining now, and we need safety, and we require progressive remediation,” he said. “We are doing better and this must not happen again.” Neither Dettah Chief Edward Sangris nor Ndilo Chief Fred Sangris were available for interview on Thursday.
