Rowe's Construction is taking a pair of barges to four abandoned mine sites on Great Slave Lake this summer after being awarded a contract to clean them up. Those sites include Outpost Islands, Wilson Island, Blanchet Island and Waldron River. - NNSL photo illustration |
Great Slave mine cleanup set
Two barges with work crews heading out to tidy up abandoned sites this summer
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, May 15, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Between six and 10 jobs are opening on barges taking to the lake this summer to tidy up old mine sites.
Michael Billowits, assistant project manager for Rowe's Construction, the $4.2-million tender-winning company contracted to carry out clean-up work at mine sites scattered around Great Slave Lake, said they're looking for equipment operators, general labourers, cooks and cleaning staff to work on a pair of barges that will be towed by tugboat from a Yellowknife dock to abandoned mine sites on the Outpost Islands, Blanchet Island, Waldron River and Wilson Island beginning in July.
At a public meeting held in the basement of the Elks Lodge, Billowitz told around 25 people that the contract - awarded to the company in February - will carry out work identified by Public Works and Services Canada as necessary in order to declare the sites clean. He said public works did the legwork on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada - the federal agency tasked with the cleanup.
"Public Works and Services Canada has the contracting and technical roles to carry out on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs," he said. "Rose is the company contracted to do the work."
Ron Breadmore, a representative speaking on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs, said a fifth site - at Copper Pass - also needs to be cleaned up but due to a lack of funding and time the operation won't tackle that site this summer.
"We'll take care of that one in the future," he said.
He said copper, nickel , gold, cobalt and tungsten were excavated from these sites over the last century.
"Blanchet saw small-scale mining back in the 1960s and 1970s, and nickel was the primary metal there," he said. "Wilson Island had minor gold excavation in the 1970s, and Waldron River, it was the same with copper in the 1940s and 1960s."
Breadmore said an initial cleanup was done at the Outpost Islands site in the 1990s but hazardous materials still remain.
"A lot of the site debris and physical hazards have been taken care of but hazardous material still remains at the sites," he said, adding that remedial options were vetted with Dene elders and community leaders.
"It was determined remediation was needed at all sites," he said.
Billowitz said a number of derelict buildings need to be demolished and disposed of, and old batteries and other hazardous materials need to be removed. He said the camp will consist of two barges: one to served as a floating motel for the camp works, the other to carry tools and materials to the sites and to haul out the waste.
"One key element is the environment health and safety promotion and monitoring" he said. "Training is going to be a key element."
He said the pay rates for those who take the jobs haven't been defined yet. Those who sign up need to be prepared to work seven days a week for three weeks straight before they're given a week off midway through the project. The work should be completed and the barges returned to Yellowknife by September. The sites will be served with supplies and workers by floatplane, said Billowitz.
Johan Black, a community liaison for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, said the contract is operating on Chief Drygeese Territory and so she wanted to make sure employment opportunities were being offered to community members, as agreed to in the project's proposal phase.
"I just hope that they will recruit from each impacted group," she said. "Whether they do that or not, I'm not too sure."
Paperwork provided by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada identifies the affected groups as Yellowknives Dene, Lutsel K'e Dene, Deninu Ku'e for the Akaitcho Dene, NWT Metis in Fort Resolution and the Tlicho Government as well as the federal government, GNWT, Great Slave Lake Yacht Club, Great Slave Lake Sailing Club and the Canadian Coast Guard.
