Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 24/99) - After 50 years of mining activity, the land Giant Mine sits on is in pretty rough shape.

Estimates to clean up the surface area of the property run between $8 to $10 million.

GNWT Finance Minister Charles Dent says the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs must accept total responsibility for surface reclamation at the mine.

"We always knew Canada is responsible for underground (reclamation) but DIAND believes the territorial government is responsible for surface cleanup," Dent said.

"There is a difference of opinion and we want to resolve this."

Dent said the territorial government will follow a three-step process to settle the issue. First, they will enter into negotiations with DIAND. If that fails they will enter mediation. If nothing is resolved through mediation they will go to arbitration.

"The disagreement focuses largely on surface structures, and on any areas where arsenic may have been deposited on the ground," Dent said.

The territorial government has held the lease on the Giant property since July 1970. Dent wasn't sure how much they've collected on the lease over the years but admits they have historically collected $45,000 a year in taxes from the operators of Giant.

"As far as I know, we've been getting a small amount in taxes, about $45,000 a year, and not a lot from the lease," Dent said.

Because the conditions, environmental terms and decisions on how mining was conducted was monitored and controlled federally, Dent says the mess that was made at Giant isn't theirs to clean-up.

"If we had control, DIAND may have a stronger argument but we never had control," Dent said.

"(The Giant surface) is an example of what happens when Ottawa makes the decisions. We've wound up in a situation where we haven't been able to call the shots, terms or conditions on how the land was used. How can Ottawa expect us to clean-up the mess there?"

DIAND regional executive advisor David Nutter said when the GNWT became the leaseholders of the Giant property, administrative responsibility was transferred to the territorial government.

Nutter said no decisions can be made on surface reclamation until Miramar, the proposed buyers of Giant Mine, announce what they plan to do with the property.

"We'd like to sort this out with the GNWT so we can get people working on the reclamation as soon as possible," Nutter said.

"If Miramar does take over responsibility, then we have to sit down and figure out what plans they have for the property. We can't start reclamation until we know what areas (Miramar) is planning on using."

He agreed that the first step to making any decisions regarding surface cleanup is resolving the responsibility issue so that when Miramar does get going, the responsible party can get people working on surface reclamation.

"We are aware of the GNWT's questions regarding responsibility of surface reclamation of Giant and at this time we haven't agreed with them," Nutter said.

"But we have agreed to sit down to find out what their understanding of the issue is and to sort it out."