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Headframe demo plans resume
No timeline provided though company official says public will be notified

Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Tuesday, August 9, 2016

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Miramar Mining Corporation official says the company is resurrecting to plans to demolish the Robertson Headframe in the company's first comments since talks with the territorial government aimed at saving the structure ended last month.

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Miramar Mining Corporation states it is resuming work to demolish the Robertson Headframe after talks with the GNWT ended last month. - NNSL file photo

Scott Stringer, in an e-mailed statement following requests for interviews, wrote the company is forced to move ahead with demolition plans.

"We will re-engage with the contractor to finalize the demolition plan and provide a notification to the public of that plan and the timing for its implementation," he stated.

The company is carrying out remediation of the former Con gold mine site in accordance with a closure and reclamation plan that sets out that buildings have to be demolished.

Earlier this year, a contract was signed with Winnipeg-based Rakowski Cartage & Wrecking Ltd. to remove hazardous material and then carry out a controlled explosion to bring the tallest structure in the Northwest Territories to the ground.

Rakowski officials were in the city and had begun preliminary work at the site.

The previous timeline for demolition had the headframe coming down in late April or early May.

Negotiations began which paused that. But on July 29 the GNWT issued a news release stating those talks had resulted in the government determining it wouldn't save the headframe.

In an interview last week, Department of Lands Minister Robert C. McLeod said cabinet decided about three weeks ago the risk of taking over the structure from Miramar was too great.

Stringer, in the e-mail, stated the company had engaged in talks with the GNWT and made a number of good-faith offers to meet the demands of the government.

"Following several months of discussions, we believed the revised agreement met all of the GNWT's demands and was therefore acceptable to both parties," Stringer stated.

Then came the news release announcing the end of talks.

Stringer said after five to six years of efforts to save the headframe, including efforts by the City of Yellowknife, the company faces "no other alternative" than to resume demolition plans.

No indication of when that may take place has been provided.

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