Staff evacuated from N.W.T. Rayrock mine site due to nearby wildfire

Staff at a mine remediation site in the Tłı̨chǫ region have evacuated due to a wildfire burning nearby. 

At approximately 3 p.m. on Saturday, staff at the Rayrock Mine remediation site began leaving for Yellowknife.

N.W.T. Fire said it recommended the evacuation due to a fire burning about 15 kilometres away, fire ZF013. The agency said in an email that the evacuation is just a precaution and that crews are monitoring the fire and looking for ways to mitigate its growth. 

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) is responsible for the former uranium mine's remediation. It said that staff are still in the process of leaving the site, about 145 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, but that 36 of their workers will be in Yellowknife by Monday night.  

Dawn Keim, a manager with CIRNAC's contaminants and remediation division, wrote in an email that the project team has suspended work at Rayrock until it's safe to return and that they're working with N.W.T. Fire to monitor the situation.

Keim said the department does not anticipate any impacts to the environment as a result of the evacuation. 

Rayrock Mine was abandoned in 1959. The remediation project began in 2024 and is expected to take three years before the site can close with ongoing long-term monitoring.