Cleaning up others' messes
Non-profit organizations team up with TerraX and other companies to clear debris from recreational area and exploration site
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Friday, October 18, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Almost 80 years of mining detritus and junk from decades of illegal dumping near Vee Lake is about to get cleared away, according to members of a team of companies and community groups.
Tom Setterfield, TerraX Minerals Inc. vice-president of exploration, left, and company president Joe Campbell survey abandoned equipment left over from decades of mining activity near Vee Lake. The company is organizing a cleanup of its Northbelt property, purchased in February from Deutsche Bank, with help from several community organizations. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo
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Beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow and continuing next spring, volunteers from six recreational organizations and representatives from TerraX Minerals Inc. will come together to pick up trash and remove the rusted equipment and discarded appliances that litter the site.
"Unfortunately, some people are using these off-roads, like the Ryan Lake Road, as a place to go and dump their stuff. They're avoiding the dumping fees," said Yellowknife Ski Club president John Stephenson, whose organization is helping to organize the cleanup alongside TerraX. "I was in there on Sunday to do a preliminary tour, and there are two old car wrecks that have been burned and rusted out. There were remains of somebody's truck cap. There were chunks of unknown metal. A lot of tires – I must have seen a dozen tires."
TerraX purchased its Northbelt property, which abuts the Yellowknife City limits and extends about 13 kilometres north of Vee Lake, in February from Deutsche Bank for about $250,000. The ski club owns a lease on nearby Banting Lake, where it maintains a Fort McPherson tent for use by members in the winter.
The area has been the site of mining and exploration activity dating back to the 1930s, according to TerraX strategic consultant David Connelly. TerraX plans to work with the six organizations to mark trails and some of the 400 old drill holes and 100 open trenches with appropriate signage to ensure safety for exploration staff and recreational users, he said.
Other groups involved include the Yk Multisport Club, Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society, NWT Motor Sports Club, Scouts Canada, and Great Slave Snowmobile Association Trail Riders.
"It's a mess and it just needs to be cleaned up," said Bruce Hewlko, president of the Trail Riders.
The initiative grew out of meetings earlier this year between TerraX and recreational organizations that use the area.
TerraX pledged $6,000 to donate to the six organizations whose members help in the cleanup, Dillon Engineering pitched in $2,000 and Subarctic Surveys chipped in another $1,000. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources committed to match up to $12,000 in donations to the groups, leaving organizers looking for another $3,000 in support.
The City of Yellowknife waived tipping fees for garbage bags for tomorrow's cleanup, but not for tires, vehicles and appliances. The larger items will be marked tomorrow and removed in the spring, Hewlko said.
"Hopefully by that time, the city will have waived the tipping fees for the larger objects," he said.
The Northbelt property is the northern extension of the Yellowknife gold camp, which stretches to Giant and Con mines. TerraX is studying core collected by past projects over the past 60 years, which was recovered from 200 drill holes.
