Mixed reality software takes viewers inside Giant Mine cleanup

If you've ever wanted to get an up-close look at the Giant Mine remediation work that's underway, this is your chance.

There's now mixed reality software that brings people 600 metres underneath the former gold mine site near Yellowknife.

The federal government teamed up with BGC Engineering to use BGC's Ada Platformto produce a 3D view of the site, which shows the underground chambers where 237,000 tons of toxic arsenic trioxide dust is stored.

All viewers have to do to see it is put on a special Microsoft headset.

WatchNorthbeat host Juanita Taylor take the digital tour of Giant Mine with Brent Mooder:

"You don't need any special technical training to understand this,"BrentMooder, a principalhydrogeologicalengineer withBGCEngineering. "Anyone can see what we're seeing and anyone can understand."

Mooder said the software has already been shown to members of a technical review board in Vancouver, to government project team members in Ottawa and people living in Yellowknife.

• MULTIMEIDA|Is Yellowknife ready to reckon with its toxic legacy?

To date,BGChas been involved in threeevents in Yellowknife, goingback to March of this year, where the public can check out the mixed reality experience, said MattLato, seniorgeotechnicalengineer withBGC.

The next major event is scheduled to happen in Yellowknife in March 2019, and is expected to include a week of community meetings. The events are hosted by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, with presentations from the Giant Mine remediation team, said Lato.

The federal government is bringing the software to community meetings to show how the environment and people's safety are being protected as the mine site is being cleaned up.

With files from Juanita Taylor