by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 15/97) - Royal Oak president Peggy Witte says she's considering getting rid of Giant Mine's arsenic dust that has long troubled environmentalists and regulators alike.

Environmental groups have said the roughly 65,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide, a byproduct of the gold-mining process stored in the caverns of Yellowknife's Giant mine, is an ecological nightmare waiting to happen.

The arsenic storage issue arose briefly during a teleconference held Monday to discuss Royal Oak's second quarter and year-to-date results.

Witte commented that the company is exploring the possibility of refining the arsenic.

"We have a team of people working on the possibility of removing that arsenic and processing it to recover both marketable arsenic and gold, which will generate enough revenue to cover the mining out of the arsenic," said Witte.

Witte's statements failed to impress a long-time observer of Giant's environmental record.

"We're always optimistic, but we'll just have to wait and see," said Chris O'Brien of Ecology North.

Two factors are driving the plan.

NWT's water board has asked Royal Oak to submit a plan for dealing with arsenic storage before its licence expires next April. Royal Oak is seeking a 10-year renewal.

The other factor has to do with market forces rather than regulation.

"The arsenic markets over the last few years have changed substantially in that the arsenic prices have risen," explained Witte. She estimated 150,000 ounces of gold is locked up in the arsenic.

Royal Oak is hoping the cash made from the sale of both the arsenic and gold will pay for the extraction.

As recently as last month, the NWT Water Board noted deficiencies in the mine's annual study, required under the current water license, of underground arsenic storage.

"To date, there has been no work done on risk assessment and very limited work on hydrogeology," wrote water board chairman Gordon Wray in a July 17 letter to Royal Oak.

"Without sound scientifically defensible information, a proper assessment of options and risks cannot be conducted," he concluded.

"We are working with the Northwest Territories water board in our planning of this," said Witte, adding further details would be released with the application for the new water licence.