Victoria Gold fined $95K for violating mining licences in Yukon
The Victoria Gold Corp. has been fined $95,000 after pleading guilty to violating some of its licence conditions at the Eagle gold mine near Mayo, Yukon.
The company was charged by the territorial government in June.
The company was accused of failing to maintain minimum water storage requirements at the mine site. The government alleged Victoria Gold stored more water in its heap leach facility than its licence allows. It also said Victoria Gold failed to report the amount of water it transferred every month.
The case stemmed from a 2021 incident at the mine site, when 17,000 litres of a cyanide solution spilled from a pipeline. The solution is used in the heap leaching process to extract gold from ore.
Victoria Gold pleaded guilty to six charges in Yukon Territorial Court.
Crown and defence made a joint submission recommending the fine amount, which is less than the maximum for those charges. They argued that the company acted quickly to deal with the spill, and entered a guilty plea early.
The company has three months to pay off the fine.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Victoria Gold takes Yukon Water Board to court over $74M increase to mine security, CBC News
Finland: Miners hunting for metals to battery cars threaten Finland’s Sámi reindeer herders’ homeland, The Independent Barents Observer
Lapland: The Arctic Railway – Building a future or destroying a culture?, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Significant metals discovery in key reindeer herding land in Norway, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: UN experts call on Sweden to halt mining project on Indigenous Sami land, Eye on the Arctic
