Yellowknife (Feb 13/04) - Talk is beginning to circulate among government officials and concerned citizens alike that perhaps Giant Mine's arsenic might not be forever.

Steve Petersen, co-chair of the Giant Mine Community Alliance, said some members of the organization are hoping future technologies may lead to a breakthrough that will create a market for the 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide buried under Giant Mine.

"None of us like the freezing option, but we realize at this point it's all that we can do," he said.

In a meeting between the alliance and officials from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, however, Petersen said they were told it might not have to stay underground forever.

"If there is some need for arsenic over the next 10 years they maintain that it will probably be easier to mine it in a frozen state," said Petersen.

Bill Mitchell, Giant Mine remediation co-ordinator, said he knows of no use for the arsenic yet, but keeping it frozen underground would make it easier to remove if a need ever did arise.

"At the moment there is no known technology that would result in a walk-away solution," said Mitchell.

"If there was a cost effective, new technology that came along where somebody at some point had a need for arsenic ... then certainly there would be ways of taking it out."

The federal government plan calls for a number of chilled, brine-bearing pipes to be built around the walls of the 15 buried arsenic chambers that would freeze them over time.

Thermosyphons -- devices that draw heat out of the ground -- would be set up on the surface to keep the arsenic from melting.

"They would be very effective in keeping that ground frozen for decades or centuries," said Mitchell.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem, also on the alliance board, said he's intrigued with the idea of finding a market-based solution for arsenic problem, too.

He joked there may be one small market for the toxic substance.

"You can use it for make-up ... It makes your skin nice and soft apparently," he said.