Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 19/99) - The stage is set for a royal environmental rumble March 2.

At issue is the environmental safety of Colomac Mine, located near Indin Lake, about 200 air kilometres north of the city.

Owned by Royal Oak, the mine was mothballed -- put on "care and maintenance" -- in 1997. The company has applied to have its water licence, which expires at the end of 1999, renewed for another four years.

The renewal triggers a review of the terms and conditions under which the mine operates.

And the Dogribs are not satisfied with those terms and conditions, nor with the company's efforts to meet them.

"It's a mess there, first of all, contaminants all over the place," said Dogrib Treaty 11 Grand Chief Joe Rabesca.

"Right now there's caribou moving in around that area," said Rabesca. "We want a complete cleanup, that's the most important thing."

In a recent letter, the Dogribs asked the NWT Water Board to hike the security deposit, "to fully reflect the level of estimated closure and abandonment costs."

Royal Oak has put up $1.5 million as assurance it will clean up the mine, but says it has no plans to close the property.

Royal Oak mine manager John Stard said the issues being brought up by the Dogribs will be addressed at the March 2 public hearing.

According to its licence application, Royal Oak plans to keep Colomac on care and maintenance until the end of the year 2000. During the interim, it stated, it will be seeking joint-venture partners to develop the mine further or use the mill and mine infrastructure to process ores from other deposits in the area.

Overfilled tailings pond

Royal Oak has also asked the water board for permission to transfer 1.5 million cubic metres of water from its overloaded tailings pond to an open pit.

The company discovered that a water-retaining lining in the walls of the tailings pond is lower than expected.

As a result, Royal Oak reports, the level of the pond is now about 15 centimetres below the top of the membrane. Under its water licence, the pond level is to remain at least a metre below the top of the liner.

"Water" is not an accurate description of what is contained in the pond.

The liquid in the pond contains various heavy metals, including cyanide and arsenic.

Groundwater is flowing into the pit Royal Oak wants to pump the excess tailing ponds effluent at the rate of 3,418 cubic metres per day.

The company believes the pit can hold more than 5.5 million cubic metres of liquid before the flow of groundwater is reversed. Royal Oak believes that until that threshold is achieved, the pit will prevent any liquids put into it from escaping.