Yellowknife claiming $21M in compensation related to Giant Mine cleanup - Action News
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Yellowknife claiming $21M in compensation related to Giant Mine cleanup

The City of Yellowknife is claiming up to $21.6 million in compensation related to Giant Mine. The citys claims arethe largest of about two dozen submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

Claim related to potential closure of boat launch, replacement of drinking water pipe

Rows of shipping containers sit on top of each other in the distance on a landscape that is sand and dirt. There is some machine that sits in the front.
A file photo of the rows and rows of about 360 shipping containers at Giant Mine, filled with the toxic remnants of the roaster building which used to separate the gold from the rocks. The City of Yellowknife is claiming up to $21.6 million in compensation related to the Giant Mine cleanup. (Priscilla Hwang/CBC)

The City of Yellowknife is claiming up to $21.6 million in compensation related to Giant Mine.

The city's claims arethe largest of about two dozen submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The claims are related to the potential temporary closure of a city boat launch and a yacht club to allow for cleanup of the townsite area of Giant Mine.

The boat launch is one of only two in the city where people can launch their motorboats onto Great Slave Lake, and the only one capable of handling larger vessels.

In filings with the board, the city says up until 2013, the team of federal bureaucrats overseeing the cleanup of the mine said there would be no impact on the boat launch. Then the team said the launch would have to be closed for 10 years.

In an Oct. 10 letter to the city, the cleanup team said it may be able to build a boat launch at the nearby Great Slave Sailing Club to avoid any interruption of lake access.

Yellowknifers should be compensated for having their access denied.- Rebecca Alty, Yellowknife mayor

The city has been meeting monthly with the Giant Mine project team in an effort to negotiate a compensation settlement, with no agreement so far.

The project team did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.

Pay up for feasibility study, denied access: City

"For us the importance was to ensure we met the deadline to get the compensation claim in because if we can't resolve that issue outside of the compensation claim process, the claim is still in and it can proceed," said Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty.

The city's claim for damages as a result of the potential loss of access to the boat launch has two parts. It wants the federal government to provide $290,000 to study the feasibility of building a new boat launch on the other side of the cityat Con Mine. The site is located near the lake on a part of the mine site where an old tank farm used to stand. The city is also asking for all costs associated with building that alternative boat launch.

The cleanup of Giant Mine may require the temporary closure of the Giant Mine boat launch and the Great Slave Sailing Club. (Richard Gleeson/CBC)

The territorial government is still considering a city request to transfer the land, that's a part of the Con mine site,to the city to use as an alternate boat launch site.

If the land and water board does not agree that those claims are valid, the city is asking for $13 million in compensation for the public's loss of access to the lake for 10 years.

"Our alternative argument is that Yellowknifers should be compensated for having their access denied," said Alty.

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty says the city is hoping to hear soon whether the territorial government will give it land near Con Mine for a new boat launch. (CBC Photo)

In a separate claim, the city is asking the land and water board to order the federal governmentto pay the full costof replacing the aging underwater pipeline the city uses to draw its drinking water from the Yellowknife River.

The federal government hasagreed to pay 75 per cent of the cost, leaving the city to pick up the remaining $8,620,740.

In addition to the city's compensation claims, the land and water board is considering more than half a million dollars in claims submitted by the Great Slave Sailing Club and its members. The Yellowknife Historical Society, which is building a museum and interpretive centre at the Giant townsite, has claimed $222,000 in damages plus $200,000 per year in lost revenue.

The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Boardis hoping that the federal government and the claimants can reach settlements. If they cannot, the board will hold hearings and, ultimately, decide what compensation is appropriate.