Proposed Casino mine inches forward to Yukons first panel review

The company behind the first proposed mining project to undergo the Yukon’s highest form of review is now one step closer in the process – though an impacted First Nation and an environmental group say they have concerns about its potential effects. The Casino Mining Corporation, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based mining company Western Copper and Gold, is proposing to build a copper, gold, molybdenum and silver open-pit mine about 300 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse in west-central Yukon. The mine would be one of the biggest to ever operate in the territory. “We’re quite proud of it,” said Sandeep Singh, CEO of Western Copper and Gold. “I think in a lot of ways, we’re paving the way.” Last month, the company submitted an environmental and socio-economic statement to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB). Spanning more than 20,000 pages, the statement details potential impacts of the mine and how the company plans to address them. It covers everything from the mine’s design to its potential impacts on wildlife and First Nations. The submission is the first step in the panel review process, the most rigorous form of assessment for a proposed mining project in the territory. In 2016, YESAB determined the mine required a panel review due to its complex heap-leach and tailings design, as well as its potential impact on the Klaza caribou herd. Casino was delayed in submitting its ESE due to years of additional redesign work, technical studies and information requests. An independent panel will eventually review the company’s proposal, hold public hearings and make a recommendation to decision-makers about whether the project should go ahead. Casino is the first mine in the territory’s history to undergo the panel review process. “Safe to say the bar for us is the highest of anyone. And that’s fair, as it should be,” Singh said. “This is a very important project to get right.” Singh noted the project will include big benefits over its 27-year lifespan, like generating an estimated $44 billion in GDP, $37 billion of which will be in the Yukon, as well as 700 long-term full-time jobs and economic benefits for impacted First Nations. He also noted it would contribute to matters of Arctic security by helping provide critical minerals and strengthening economic development in the North. “There’s a lot of benefits to Yukoners in particular, and honestly, to the country,” he said. An aerial view of the Casino exploration site. Photo: Casino Mining Corporation ‘Land over benefits,’ says Little Salmon/Carmacks chief But not everyone is so sure of those benefits – or at what cost. Chief Russell Blackjack of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation in the community of Carmacks, about a two-hour drive north of Whitehorse, is one of them. An access road leading to the mine would go through the First Nation’s settlement land. Blackjack is concerned that increased road activity will drive away wildlife like caribou and moose, impacting his people’s subsistence hunting. “There’s the environmental pressure that we’re going to feel,” he said. “The animals are going to be affected, for sure, because you’re going to have heavy traffic and they’re either going to move away from the area, or else they’ll be involved in vehicle accidents.” Blackjack also believes the mine would increase the population of Carmacks, a small village of roughly 500 people. He said there isn’t enough housing in the community to accommodate an influx of mine workers. However, Blackjack said he appreciates that the company has shown a willingness to work with impacted First Nations, which he feels is a good sign. He’s hopeful they can work together to put proper protections in place for the access road and other areas of concern. “If they’re going to do that, then we’ll work with them,” he said. Still, he feels the benefits the company is touting won’t last forever. “Benefits are good, but they only last (so) long,” he said. “Land over benefits, to us, is more. It’s something that we cherish. We’ve always cherished.” Chief Russell Blackjack of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation says the Casino mine’s potential benefits are a good thing – though he feels the land must be protected at all costs. Photo: Jordan Haslbeck/APTN News CPAWS Yukon dings mine’s heap leach facility, tailings dam Environmental group Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Yukon also has concerns. Conservation Manager Randi Newton feels the ESE raises red flags about the mine’s heap leach facility and tailings dam design, especially in the aftermath of Victoria Gold’s Eagle gold mine disaster, which saw hundreds of millions of litres of cyanide solution released into the surrounding environment. She believes the mine’s heap leach facility should be classified as a Class 3 facility as opposed to a Class 2, citing recommendations stemming from the independent review board that looked into the causes of the Eagle gold failure. The designation would mean more stringent regulatory requirements. According to Newton, the ESE shows the mine doesn’t have enough water storage on site to manage severe storm events. “I suspect the company might come back and say, ‘Well, we can fill these gaps later on in the assessment process. We’ll do a more refined design.’ But this is meant to be a comprehensive public process. If those documents are submitted later on, it’s just a puzzle of documents for people to sort through. It’s harder to engage in a meaningful way,” she said. Newton also noted that while the company looked at the physical impacts if a tailings dam failure were to happen, it didn’t examine the acid-generating tailings that are farther back in the dam, even though the company’s own studies show that they could start to seep out. She believes that raises concerns about a potential repeat of issues seen during the Eagle gold disaster. “It’s not just the initial failure that’s a disaster. It’s the contamination that continues as the company or government scrambles to respond to that disaster. And that’s just not acceptable,” she said. She also noted the ESE uses “a lot of confident language,” similar to the tone used by Victoria Gold in documentation for Eagle gold. “I’m not saying they’re the same facility, but that confident language and not really interrogating those risks is not serving anyone,” she said. Randi Newton, CPAWS Yukon’s conservation manager, says the mine’s design raises red flags. Photo: Jordan Haslbeck/APTN News Mining company stands by project Singh said he understands people have concerns and agrees the project must be done carefully. “It’s just too big and too important not to get right, especially with the modern history of mining in the Yukon,” he said. Regarding Newton’s view that the project needs to be reclassified, Singh said it’s a “fair” observation, though he argues Casino’s design mostly already meets Class 3 criteria. He believes each mine should be considered on a case-by-case basis – details he said will be worked out during the panel review. He also disputes the criticism that the company hasn’t considered every possible scenario surrounding the mine, noting the company has conducted multiple high-level studies and assessments and has gone over its design in “excruciating detail.” He said most questions or concerns people have about the mine can be found in the ESE. “I think we have put forward something that is compelling and sustainable, and we look forward to standing behind it in every potential technical way,” he said. As for the comparison to Eagle gold, Singh believes it’s not fair to paint the two mines with the same brush. Read More:  20 seconds of terror: Surviving Eagle Gold Mine landslide  He said Casino’s heap leach facility will be smaller than Eagle’s, with risk assumptions and safety buffers incorporated into its design. He said the independent review board’s recommendations and best industry practices will also be included. “(We) certainly understand the trauma that people have lived through. It’s made our job harder,” he said. “But the size of it, the longevity of it, the quality of it, the value, can help bring some major mining groups to the Yukon to build a mine properly and to back it properly financially. And we haven’t really gotten that equation, if you will, very right in recent times.” YESAB has up to 60 days to decide if it has enough information to proceed to a panel review. Once it gives the ESE the green light, the next step will be the selection of panel members, a process that’s unlikely to be completed until April 2026 at the earliest. Continue Reading