Yukon premier wants to sit down with Victoria Gold board and look them 'in the eye'
'If we are pushed to have to take over a site, we’ll take over a site,' Ranj Pillai says
The Yukon premier says he's requested to meet with the board of mining company Victoria Gold to discuss how they handled the response to a massive landslide and cyanide spill at the Eagle gold mine near Mayo.
"I want to look the board in the eye," Ranj Pillai said. "I want to have a talk with them about why they're handling or directing their management in this way."
Last week, Pillai blasted the company in a speech at the Council of Yukon First Nations' general assembly, suggesting it had joined a list of "bad actors" that have exploited the territory.
Pillai said he stands by those comments, but also believes there's room for development in the territory.
"I think there needs to be an industry and there's incredible people working in it," he said.
"Nobody knows what has happened at Victoria Gold, and nobody should be blaming anybody at this time. But something did happen."
In a news release Monday, Pillai said the Yukon government had agreed with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun "to pause existing consultation processes and not commence new consultation processes" for mining licences for a period of two months.
That comes after the First Nation asked the government to halt all mining activity on its land.
He also said the government has further committed to not issue any licences for a new heap leach facility in the Yukon until the outcome of an independent review into the incident at Eagle mine.
Pillai said since the heap leach failure on June 24, the response to the spill — which has already seen cyanide leak into the groundwater — has dominated the work of public servants "in multiple departments."
"We are preparing for all scenarios in this particular case." he said.
Yukon wants to do groundwater testing on site
Pillai said the Yukon government has asked Victoria Gold to let it do groundwater testing onsite, but it needs a containment berm built around the slide to do so.
The territorial government has said it has hired its own contractors to build that berm.
When asked by CBC if the mining company is doing enough, Pillai said, "no."
"My stance would be no, they are not doing all they can do from my perspective," he said.
"If we are pushed to have to take over a site, we'll take over a site."
With files from Elyn Jones