Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 10/05) - Seven huge steel cylinders at the Giant Mine site could be sold as scrap metal, or be turned into a beautiful building in downtown Yellowknife, depending on who you talk to.

The 64-foot-high, 48-foot-wide objects can be seen off the right side of the road when driving out of Yellowknife toward the Ingraham Trail.

Francois Thibault believes they could eventually be used to provide Yellowknife with more building space than the Centre Square Mall.

Thibault brought the idea up three years ago, but the tanks were privately-owned at the time.

But after June 30 they belong to the territorial and federal governments, according to an agreement recently signed to develop a clean-up plan for the site.

An aurora borealis viewing centre, or a home for the boy scouts, girl guides and the Western Arctic Moving Pictures Co-op, are some of Thibault's possible uses.

"They'll never be able to build a building with this amount of square footage for the money they're going to get for them," he said.

Architect Wayne Guy also believes the containers could be used for a community building, adding proper insulation for the containers could be achieved using a special foam.

"If they can be salvaged, they're worth quite a bit," said Guy.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem sees the biggest challenges for the proposed project as funding, location, "and to some extent, a lack of interested people."

Van Tighem said only Thibault has contacted him about the issue. A few weeks ago, the mayor met with a B.C. company interested in processing the city's scrap metal.

At Giant Mine, the plan is to demolish all of the site's steel containers and sell them for scrap metal, said Bill Mitchell, spokesman for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs' on the clean-up project.

Each container is estimated to contain between 60 and 85 tonnes of steel, which could bring up to $312 per tonne, Mitchell said.

"If they're willing to pay for the cost to relocate them, then we'll certainly consider it," said Mitchell.

Nobody has estimated the cost to move the containers.

But Guy thinks a proposal to build an arts and cultural centre would likely draw the necessary funding.

"If you identify a funding source, then this all becomes very doable," said Guy.

Thibault would like to see the idea examined further.

"At the very least, let's figure out how much it would cost to move these tanks and put up some sort of building," he said.