Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (July 29/05) - A geologist is warning that Prairie Creek mine could have devastating effects on Nahanni National Park Reserve.

Derek Ford has written to Canadian and international dignitaries to advise that the park should lose its designation as a United Nations' World Heritage site if the mine goes into production.

He warns of hazards to surface and ground water from mercury and sulphuric acid, a by-product from mining.

Canadian Zinc's plan to use waste rock and ore to backfill excavated areas is "a recipe for ground water contamination in perpetuity," wrote Ford, a retired Emeritus professor of geography and geology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Prairie Creek mine, established to extract zinc, silver, lead and copper, is located approximately 14 kilometres upstream from the park boundary.

John Kearney, chair of Canadian Zinc, said Ford is simply wrong.

"It's basically rubbish," he said of Ford's professional opinion.

"I know that the company can comply with all of the modern, current environmental requirements."

The mining company hires the highest-qualified mining and environmental specialists in Canada, according to Kearney.

"We use experts all the time, we have to in our environmental process," he said.

Chuck Blyth, superintendent of Nahanni National Park Reserve, didn't dispute that Canadian Zinc contracts competent scientists, but said he's never seen any documentation indicating that they have addressed the issues that Ford is raising.

Rumbling and shaking

Ford also cautions that Prairie Creek's tailings pond, which is to contain sulphides, is vulnerable to landslides caused by earthquakes.

He cites Nahanni region seismic events of magnitudes 6.9 and 6.6 recorded in 1985.

"It is a dangerous place to build a tailings pond with a fragile dam," Ford states.

Kearney, based in Toronto, countered that earthquakes in the area are "very, very rare events" that don't occur on a scale large enough to cause concern.

In addition, he said the mine facilities were designed to withstand seismic activity.

Blyth, who spoke highly of Ford's credentials, said the geologist's letter, dated July 8, was read "with great interest" within Parks Canada.

It will provide useful material for future environmental assessments and is "excellent" justification for park expansion, the park's superintendent said.

The loss of World Heritage site status, should that happen, would be disappointing, "to say the least," said Blyth.

Selling point

A Supreme Court ruling earlier this year exempted Canadian Zinc from an environmental assessment to re-establish a winter road to the mine site.

The company is also seeking to undertake a drilling program, but its applications for permits have been before the NWT's regulatory boards since spring 2004.

"That's a frustration... the process is laboriously long and slow," Kearney said.

The mine, which was built in the 1980s, only requires about six months of start-up work to go into production, he noted. But, again, it would need to obtain the proper permits to do so.

Parks Canada and the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) are aiming to expand the Nahanni park's boundaries and protect the entire 35,000 square-kilometre Nahanni watershed.

Prairie Creek mine, being an existing third-party interest, is covered under the DFN's Interim Measures Agreement with the federal government, however.

Asked if Canadian Zinc would consider selling the mine to the government, Kearney replied, "There's a procedure laid down in the legislation which provides for the payment of compensation to third-party interests which are lost as a result of a proposed park or a park expansion."

He declined to put a value on the mine.