A recent study tracking down arsenic trioxide levels in the Yellowknife area has confirmed that the dangerous byproduct of gold mining is alive and well within city limits. This comes as no surprise to Bob Bromley of Ecology North. Bromley has criticized the study for not even coming close to dealing with the cleanup that he believes is long overdue.
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 21/01) - A new study identifying elevated arsenic levels in Yellowknife is lacking in cleanup recommendations, says a local environmental group.
Bob Bromley of Ecology North hoped the "Arsenic Levels in the Yellowknife Area 2001" report would list guidelines as to when and how arsenic contaminated soil should be dealt with.
| Arsenic Facts
Source: Environmental Sciences Group of the Royal Military College of Canada. |
 Bob Bromley |
It does, however, at last, identify typical background levels in the Yellowknife area as 3-150 parts per million.
The Yellowknife Arsenic Soil Remediation Committee who commissioned the study, said the report's intention was never to make remediation recommendations.
Committee co-chair Brad Colpitts said the study's discovery of small but elevated arsenic levels in Ndilo is under investigation.
He emphasized the college is an independent, academic body that simply compiled four years of extensive soil sampling. If the college wants to do more studies fine; it's not necessarily the committee's stance, he said.
"We're almost there," Colpitts said when asked about when and were the tainted soil will be dealt with.
Whether areas around Giant Mine and Con Mine (including areas of Rat Lake) will be treated chemically, capped, removed or transformed remains to be seen in committee guidelines set for release in July.
Their guidelines will follow the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.
Before launching the cleanup recommendations, a health and environmental assessment will be carried out. The assessment will be compared with a 1977 Canadian Public Health study conducted on 409 Yellowknifers.
"It's a very thorough, excellent piece of work that determined the level of arsenic exposure was normal or close to it at a time when gold mines were far more active," Colpitts said.
Public input will also be sought over the next three months.
Financing the costly remediation processes falls to mine operators and land owners - the latter being the government.
Which means, Bromley said, that the bill will likely fall to taxpayers.
Additionally, Bromley is wondering out loud about how long it will take before the cleanup process actually begins.
"Clearly we're the guinea pigs. They're waiting until there are health problems before taking the conservative action that's required," Bromley said.
He'd like to see the 270,000 tones of arsenic underneath Giant Mine restored.
In the big picture, arsenic in Yellowknife is not new, especially in areas like the city's old gold mines.
Which is why Bromley is wondering when the studies will stop and cleanup will start.
"Ecology North formed in 1971 because of this issue and here we are almost 30 years later and now we're sitting on the largest deposit of arsenic trioxide in the world," he said.
Is it an accident waiting to happen?
"Very much so," Bromley said.
Environmental consultant Wayne Bryant has not seen the Royal College Military report yet. From what he's heard, overall health issues are not a significant worry.
"I'm not that concerned. I know there are a couple of hot areas to stay away from," Bryant said.
"But for most people playing in ball diamonds or walking down the street it isn't a concern unless you like eating dirt everyday."
