Long-term funding plan for Giant Mine draws criticism

A plan to ensure there will be money in future decades and centuries to keep Giant Mine safe is drawing a lot of criticism.

There are237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust stored in caverns beneath the old abandoned gold mine on the outskirts of Yellowknife. The $1 billion taxpayer-funded cleanup calls for the caverns to be frozen to prevent water from penetrating and carrying the highly toxic and highly soluble dust into the environment.

Under the plan, the mine will require annual care and maintenance, at an estimated cost of $6 million, continuing forever. As a condition of the environmental approval of the cleanup, a detailed plan for securing that funding was to be completed two years ago. Three months ago, the team of federal bureaucrats in charge of the cleanup produced a draft plan, which has yet to be released to the public.

"There's no regulatory agency to take control of that measure as far as I know, so I don't think there's a consequence (for missing the deadline)," said Kathleen Racher, who chairs an independent board providing oversight on the cleanup.

"Unlike a land and water board process where you submit it to an impartial board and then people make comments and there's someone to referee the process, there's no referee in this case."

In a letter to the cleanup team last month, Racher criticized the plan for concluding that relying on the federal government for annual funding allocations is the best way to ensure ongoing funding. The oversight board says the team failed to consider more creative funding models, such as the establishment of a fund dedicated to care and maintenance of the mine.

The issue of ongoing funding came up in the legislature Tuesday. Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly said relying on Ottawa to provide funding forever is not a good option.

"An annual appropriations model for funding perpetual care at Giant does not build any public confidence in this project and was one of the main reasons it was referred to an environmental assessment in the first place."

In response to questions from O'Reilly, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources said he's expecting a final report on long-term funding soon.

"The project team is working toward finalizing the report and I anticipate that this will be completed in 2019 and shared publicly," said Robert C. McLeod.

No one from the cleanup team was immediately available for comment.