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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A mining heritage display near the Giant Mine boat launch has been cleared away over fears that the mine-tunneled rock beneath it might collapse.

About 25 historical pieces of mining equipment, from an old diamond driller to a truck used on the Canol Trail, were taken away last week from a rail track surrounding a small pond close to the A-shaft headframe at Giant Mine, and deposited in a somewhat disorganized manner on the far end of the parking lot where people store their boat trailers.

An orange safety fence has surrounded the pond for several months.

"Back behind the fence and underground there is supposed to be an old stope that comes fairly close to the surface," said Walt Humphries, president of the NWT Mining Heritage Society. "The (Giant Mine remediation team) wanted to test it to see that the ground is sound and everything else.

A stope is the chamber that remains after rock ore is carved out underground.

"My understanding is that when the engineers looked at the old plans at Giant and they found there were several of these stopes that come to surface. This location happens to be the only stope that people have access to by walking or driving over it," Humphries said.

Giant's remediation team will be conducting drilling tests in the rock to ensure that it is solid and that there is no risk of the heritage pieces sinking into the ground, said Mike Vaydik, the heritage society's vice-president.

"We don't even know if there is a safety issue, but we are pretty confident that it is safe," said Vaydik.

"The rock is two-and-a-half billion years old, so it isn't going to go much farther than where it has gone already."

Vaydik said he had not been aware of the removal of the heritage equipment until Monday when he was contacted by Yellowknifer. He remains concerned about some of the garbage strewn in the area, which makes the area even messier. "It is a multi-use area and if everyone uses it properly, I think it will be OK," said Vaydik, pointing out that such items as diapers and wrappers have been carelessly tossed onto the site. "But if it is not supervised or managed, it makes it a tough one."

Benny Nordahn, a mine system officer with Giant's remediation team, said a federal government engineer fears the underground chamber could collapse.

"The engineer wanted it fenced off and with all the museum stuff behind it, that wouldn't have been fair to anybody," said Nordahn. "We will fill the stope at some point with backfill, but because of where we are with the process, it may take a while. It may take until next fall, probably, if we get that far."

Humphries said there isn't much the society can do about the situation. He added he is willing to wait for the work to be completed if it means stopping the outdoor display pieces from dropping through the ground. However, he is hoping the mining heritage display is back on the rail track by next spring because right now the area looks cluttered and disorganized.

The mining heritage society has had a display at the site for about six years, he said, after gaining permission to put them there from the city, which owns the land. The society only has a lease from the city on the south side of Baker Creek where the former recreation hall and future NWT Mining and Geological Museum is to be located.

The society has also applied for a lease from the city for property at the A-shaft headframe on the corner by Highway 4, but Humphries said this won't be granted until after the mine cleanup is complete.

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