Yellowknife (July 07/03) - Discovery Mine, an abandoned mine and town site located 90 km north of Yellowknife, is on the hot spot for demolition before the end of the decade.

Since the buildings on site are falling apart, the federal government has decided not to risk the safety of people who visit the mine.

The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND) is responsible for the buildings and surface area of the mine site.

"DIAND is the landlord of the North," said Scott Mitchell, head of contaminated sites. The liability of the site falls on their lap.

"I understand the historic value the buildings present but if someone gets hurt they could sue the government."

Recently, NWT Mining Heritage Society members Ryan Silke and Alf Silke flew to Discovery with pilot Jesse Jasper to explore the old, falling down buildings.

"Our mandate is to preserve mining heritage in the North in general, not to preserve this site," Silke said.

Walt Humphries, society president, concurs. "We can't favour every mine site."

He adds that "it's too big a thing for us to take over."

However, he believes the site should be documented and that someone should take over responsibility for a few buildings.

"It could be handy to have a few buildings out in the bush. If someone runs into problems that's where they'll go to survive."

Humphries said that the local flying group, COPA Flight 108, would also like to have a spot they could fly to for a picnic.

"There's not many airstrips around here," he said.

Mitchell said that the airstrip will be left as it currently is but will not be maintained.

However, he vetoes the idea of emergency shelters.

"People go in the buildings, smash windows and trash the place," he said. "They follow the 'if it's not mine, I don't need to take care of it' viewpoint."

According to Mitchell, someone would have to take liability for any shelter that's at Discovery.

Discovery Mine History

Discovery has been around since the end of World War II.

Claims were first staked by Fred Giauque in 1944 and were acquired by the Byrne family organization.

Discovery Mines Ltd., formed in 1945, began shaft sinking the follow year. They started gold production in January 1950.

During its lifespan over one million tons of ore was drilled with a grade of one ounce of gold per ton.

The mining industry called Discovery "one of the richest mines in Canada," said Humphries.

"It was one of the last mines with a town site attached to it," he said. "People who worked there liked living there."

Economic ore reserves were depleted in 1969 and the mine and town site closed. The site was abandoned after the mill was burned down.

Since the mine closed before new legislation was introduced that required mine companies to clean up the area, the federal government accepted the site as it stood.

"If there are no rules and regulations to follow, it becomes your problem to deal with," said Mitchell, about DIAND's landlord role.

The department put caps on the tailings pond to stop further contamination away from the site but the buildings have been left standing without repairs.

"We're going to remediate completely the site in five to 10 years," Mitchell said. "We'll clean up the buildings."

Humphries isn't looking forward to it.

"It just seems a shame going around destroying something that can be of some use to somebody," he said.

The NWT Mining Heritage Society will be sad to see it go since they're a group "trying to preserve and save mining and geological history."

The society hopes to one day open a heritage centre in Yellowknife or take over one of the existing mines.

"There are a lot of mines up here people have forgot about," Humphries said. "It's an interesting history we have."