CanTung (Dec 15/03) - The question of who will pay for clean-up of CanTung mine is flaring up again in light of the mine's recent closure.

North American Tungsten announced last week that it is again placing the CanTung mine on care and maintenance status due to the loss of a financing deal.

The mine, which is located near the NWT/Yukon border, employed close to 200 workers but none were from the Deh Cho.

Malcolm Robb, acting manager of mineral and petroleum resources for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), noted that North American Tungsten has stated that the mine is only on care and maintenance status as a temporary measure.

Whenever the mine goes back into production, "they'd have to start coming up with the staged security deposit specified in the (water) licence," Robb said.

Should the company become insolvent, DIAND has a number of contingencies outlined in its latest policy, depending on the exact circumstances. In a worst case scenario, DIAND may take over the mine depending on the "extent of the benefits or potential benefits to the Crown in reducing the environmental impacts and ultimate cost to Canadian taxpayers of environmental remediation at the mine site," the policy reads.

"It gets quite complex... it's kind of a tricky legal area because a number of acts come into play," Robb acknowledged.