Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Friday, April 6, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Baker Creek started flowing again March 31 as work was completed on the B-2 Dam at the old Giant Mine Site, according to Bill Mitchell, federal clean-up manager for the mine site.

Reconstruction on the B-2 pit dam at Baker Creek started in January after some leakage was noticed, said Mark Cronk, a senior project manager with Public Works and Government Services Canada. Mitchell had previously reported that the dam had a few leakages over the years and work on the dam was to prevent it from flooding into the mine.

The B-2 pit dam was built to redirect the flow from Baker Creek away from the mining pit at the old Giant Mine site.

Cronk said it's pretty rare to have all the work completed in just five months.

"We're pretty pleased," said Cronk. "We can't think of another dam found leaking that was reconstructed in less than five months."

Cronk said the work, which cost around $1 million according to Mitchell, was completed under budget.

"We had a lot of good people working on it who put in some pretty long days," said Cronk.

The liner of the dam was installed by Yellowknife firm A&A Technical Services.

Mitchell had previously reported a "strange" level of water flow that forced Giant Mine clean-up crews to dig out some ice in the creek to relieve pressure and prevent an ice jam on the roadside stream while completing construction on the dam.

Mitchell said that there is no longer any concern about overflow.

Now that the creek is running, he expects that as the ice melts it will flow back into the stream without any problems.

Ice seen piled up on the side of the creekbeds shouldn't be of any concern, according to Cronk.

"The ice seen there was pulled out of the channel so that the creek could continue to flow," said Cronk.

While they will continue to monitor the water level, Mitchell said it is currently of no particular concern.

The dam is expected to last 100 years.

Cronk said the only additional work he expects will be some clean up in the spring once the ice has melted.

He also said they will need to replant some vegetation to counter the effects of the construction.