Yukon Zinc’s Wolverine Mine Flooding

CBC News reported that the Yukon government continues to face problems related to Yukon Zinc Corp.’s Wolverine mine. It was placed on care and maintenance at the end of January, and shortly thereafter news surfaced that Yukon Zinc was behind in payments for its security deposit by over $3 million.

Now Yukon Zinc is reportedly in non-compliance regarding its temporary closure plan, and the mine site has been slowly flooding as a result.

As quoted in the market news:

The mine did not re-open after a holiday shutdown in December. On Feb. 5, a stop work order for Wolverine Mine was issued by the Worker’s Compensation Board because of safety concerns with a ramp leading into a pump station 1,150 metres underground at the mine.

However, according to Rob Thomson, the head of compliance monitoring and inspection for the territorial government, Yukon Zinc didn’t want to pay to repair the ramp and keep the pumps going, which has led to the site slowly flooding for almost two months.

‘A primary element of the temporary closure provisions of the decommissioning and closure plan is to continue de-watering the mine,’ said Thomson. ‘That’s specifically one of the things the mine is not doing. The company feels it can’t afford to de-water the mine.’

Thomson also said:

Right now, all we are investigating, and I won’t speak much more about it, is the failure to follow inspector’s directions and the failure to abide by the terms and conditions of the respective licenses. Specifically the temporary closure provisions of the decommissioning and closure plan.

I think we’re satisfied that it isn’t a crisis at this moment in time.

Click here to read the full CBC News report.