Yellowknife (Oct 22/03) - Concerned about contaminants poisoning caribou in their area, the Dogrib have taken on a crucial role in helping the federal government prepare their remediation plan for the abandoned Colomac mine site.

"Our concerns are taken seriously and used throughout the process of remediation," said George Lafferty, community organizer for Tli Cho Logistics.

A major undertaking by the project management team has been the creation of an eight kilometre fence surrounding the tailings containment area, which Melo said was a must. The Dogrib are concerned that caribou and other wildlife -- drawn to the salt-rich contaminants at the site -- are becoming poisoned.

"We are working very closely with the Tli Cho (Dogrib) people to develop this plan together," said Octavio Melo, senior environmental scientist and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs' project manager for the site.

Colomac is located about 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife.

Melo said that the biggest challenge they face with the clean-up process has always been the tailings ponds, which are contaminated with cyanide, ammonia, arsenic, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.

To decrease levels of toxins in the water, he said a number of options were considered, including establishing water treatment plants on site, but after further discussions and tests, adding phosphorus to the tailings ponds seemed to be the most economical.

Phosphorus has proved to reduce ammonia levels substantially and also reduces the concentration of other polluting metals.

Melo said water treatment plants are only a back-up plan now, since the other treatment option is appear to be successful.

He said the phosphorus application costs about $200,000 a year to bring the agent up to the site and apply it whereas water treatment facilities could have a price tag of close to $10 million.

Melo said they began applying the phosphorus last year and plan to continue doing so for at least another couple years. They will then spend a couple more years afterwards monitoring the results.

Another problem at the site is the seepage of tailings through faults in the rock formations and through broken linings in the dams.

A main work initiative currently underway is the construction of large ditches, designed to divert run-off and from collecting in the tailings ponds.

"We need to stop that seepage before we can ever walk away from this site," said Melo. "I think we are taking all the necessary measures."

The remediation plan must be written and submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board by Dec. 31, and if approved, the site will be cleaned-up and remediated over a five to seven year period. Last year, DIAND had $8 million of funding to put towards research and clean-up and this year, Melo said the department has $15 million.

"We don't have multi-year funding so we are going year by year," said Melo.

"We can't even guarantee funding three years from now."

He said that although the site will not be as "fruitful" as it was before development started in the early 90s, they will ensure the environment is protected and safe.

DIAND is also satisfied with the number of job benefits members of Dogrib Treaty 11 have received because of their involvement.

About 75 per cent of the workforce at Colomac are from Tli Cho communities.

Lafferty said at least their major concerns of keeping the wildlife safe and the environment protected will happen.

"Because of the magnitude of the problem, however, this place will not be what it looked like before," he said.