Indian Affairs and Northern Development will be spending $3 million to clean up both Giant and Colomac Mines this year -- NNSL file photo

Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 26/00) - The federal government will be spending a third less on the clean-up of Colomac and Giant mines this year.

Last week, 11 weeks after the start of the fiscal year, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs reported that it will be spending $3 million on the clean up of the properties, abandoned by Royal Oak Mines last year when the company declared bankruptcy.

"They'll have some cash to continue with the surface remediation (at Giant), but they're going to be short on funds to continue with the research work that's being done with the arsenic problem underground," said Jim Moore, assistant deputy minister of DIAND's Northern Affairs Program.

"There's a pretty strong possibility we're going to have to elongate the time we have to complete all of that work."

DIAND officials last year estimated they will have settled on a method of dealing with the 260,000 tons of arsenic trioxide dust stored underground by this December. The cleanup was to begin in 2003.

Surface cleanup at Giant is estimated to cost $16.3 million. The cost of removing the arsenic stored underground will be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Colomac a hazard

Because it presents a more pressing environmental hazard, Moore said the lion's share of this year's funding will be devoted to Colomac, located about 200 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife.

"You can take it from me, (the clean up of Giant) is going to be impacted this year," he said.

The cut, said Moore, is the result of demands on "enormous" demands on all DIAND divisions. In the past, said Moore, the Northern Affairs Program has been able to reallocate money from other divisions in the department.

Apart from the two former Royal Oak properties, DIAND plans to spend $1.5 million to complete the reclamation of Discovery Mine and another $3.5 million for continuing work on an abandoned military site on Resolution Island.

Of DIAND's total 2000-01 budget of $4.8 billion, $154.4 million is devoted to its Northern Affairs Program.

Dave Nutter, the leader of the DIAND group overseeing clean up of Colomac and Giant, said he will know within the next few weeks how the $3 million will be split between Giant and Colomac.

He said that as a result of the cut in funding, "minimal" work will be done on developing a plan to deal with the estimated 270,000 tons of arsenic trioxide dust stored in underground vaults at Giant.

Nutter said a lack of funding this year is only part of the problem.

"I have a sense of this year's budget now, I have a sense of what I think I can get done this year," said Nutter. "But without knowing what next year's budget is it's pretty hard to predict what I can get done next year."