Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 29/99) - Whoever ends up doing it, the surface cleanup of Giant Mine will be far from a piece of cake, and cake is the last thing that comes to mind when looking at the most toxic part of the mine's surface, the northwest hazardous waste area.

Hundreds of black 45-gallon drums marked with white skulls and crossbones stand on end, five to a skid. A few with no lids are four-fifths full of a fine white powder. The barrels are approximately 20 metres from the vast central tailings pond that appears to be dry.

The drums are numbered but apart from a few with the warning 'Dangerous to marine environment,' labels that were attached to them are covered over by the black paint.

A number of the barrels contain arsenic trioxide dust, the same deadly substance that is stored underground at the mine.

"There is always a hazard associated with the storage of arsenic," said GNWT environmental protection director Emery Paquin.

"The hazard with surface storage is the drums may deteriorate and the contents spill. In this situation, if the containers leaked the arsenic would drain toward the tailings pond."

If all the barrels containing arsenic trioxide leaked and the dust leached out it would have little effect on the water quality of the tailings pond, Paquin said.

"It has been reported that historically, arsenic trioxide and other waste has been stored in the tailings pond," said Paquin. He emphasized the dumping of arsenic trioxide into the tailings pond occurred long ago, before environmental regulations prohibited it.

The territorial government does not know how many of the barrels contain arsenic. That is one of many questions about the surface cleanup the government expects will be answered in the next few weeks.

A consortium of companies -- the Deton'cho Corp., EBA consulting and Vista engineering -- has been contracted by the territorial government to provide an inventory of all the materials and buildings on the mine property. Paquin would not say how much the contract was worth. That inventory has been completed and a final report is being prepared.

The territorial government has already made a list of surface clean-up tasks that can be undertaken while the mine remains in operation.

Tasks include moving the barrels at the hazardous waste area to a "secured, covered area" and undertaking a risk assessment to "determine if arsenic trioxide and other wastes buried in the tailings ponds pose an unacceptable environmental risk."

How the cost of the cleanup -- which Paquin estimated at $13 million -- will be shared between the two levels of government remains unclear.

Until last week, when finance minister Charles Dent said otherwise, it was understood the territorial government is responsible for the surface cleanup and the federal government for the cleanup of the estimated 270,000 tons of arsenic trioxide dust stored in underground vaults.

"We are suggesting to (the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) that the question of government responsibility (for the surface cleanup) has to be addressed," said Paquin.