Yellowknife (Feb 04/04) - If the federal government has its way, approximately 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide will stay buried under Giant Mine forever.

Giant Mine remediation co-ordinator Bill Mitchell told Yellowknifer that his department was given the green light yesterday by Ottawa to move ahead with a plan to keep the 50 year's worth of toxic dust at the mine frozen in perpetuity.

"We won't be taking it out and creating another contaminated area," said Mitchell.

"We anticipate submitting a project description to the Mackenzie Land and Water Board this fall, around October."

If the plan is approved, he said they hope to begin freezing the arsenic by the end of 2006.

He predicts it will take 10-15 years and cost around $200 million.

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development proposed two options last year: freeze the arsenic, or remove it and encapsulate it in cement.

Ultimately, the federal government opted for the freeze it and leave it plan because it will be too dangerous to move the arsenic and cheaper to leave it underground, Mitchell said.

Cool off the rock

In order to do the job, a remediation team of fewer than 100 workers will drill holes underneath and alongside the underground arsenic chambers.

They will then insert distribution pipes filled with a coolant that will slowly begin freezing the arsenic.

They aim to chill the chambers to below -2 C, Mitchell added.

"We'll use a freezing plant, much the same as you would see in any hockey rink," he said.

"We would be pumping the frozen coolant into these pipes to essentially cool off the rock."

Mitchell said he was encouraged by the news coming out of Ottawa the day before, when Governor General Adrienne Clarkson announced the government's intention to commit $3.5 billion to cleaning up contaminated mine sites across the country.

"Over the past year we've spent a lot of time bringing the people in Ottawa up to speed about the problems at Giant," he said.

"Giant is only one of many contaminated sites in the North but it's certainly one many people know about."

The federal government's decision to freeze the arsenic didn't surprise Kevin O'Reilly, research director for the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC), but he is annoyed they aren't providing more information.

"Who approved it? Why are they phoning up the media without putting out a news release about this?" O'Reilly wondered.

"It seems to be a very strange way of making a public announcement."

DIAND is only going with the freeze plan because it will be cheaper, O'Reilly said.

Mitchell said an Ottawa committee of senior bureaucrats with DIAND made the decision to go with the freezing plan.

Yellowknife mayor Gord Van Tighem sits on the Giant Mine Community Alliance -- a body made up of community representatives who consult with DIAND. He said he was told the department will be giving them a report on Friday.

For now, he is just happy the government is finally moving on Giant Mine.

"We've been fighting for the last couple of weeks to make sure that things like Giant and Colomac (Mine) didn't fall off the list," Van Tighem said.

"That's one good thing. There's still a focus on environmental clean-up in the North."