Yellowknife claiming $21M in compensation related to Giant Mine cleanup

The City of Yellowknife is claiming up to $21.6 million in compensation related to Giant Mine.

The city's claims are the largest of about two dozen submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The claims are related to the potential temporary closure of a city boat launch and a yacht club to allow for cleanup of the townsite area of Giant Mine.

The boat launch is one of only two in the city where people can launch their motorboats onto Great Slave Lake, and the only one capable of handling larger vessels.

In filings with the board, the city says up until 2013, the team of federal bureaucrats overseeing the cleanup of the mine said there would be no impact on the boat launch. Then the team said the launch would have to be closed for 10 years.

In an Oct. 10 letter to the city, the cleanup team said it may be able to build a boat launch at the nearby Great Slave Sailing Club to avoid any interruption of lake access.

Yellowknifers should be compensated for having their access denied.- Rebecca Alty, Yellowknife mayor

The city has been meeting monthly with the Giant Mine project team in an effort to negotiate a compensation settlement, with no agreement so far.

The project team did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.

Pay up for feasibility study, denied access: City

"For us the importance was to ensure we met the deadline to get the compensation claim in because if we can't resolve that issue outside of the compensation claim process, the claim is still in and it can proceed," said Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty.

The city's claim for damages as a result of the potential loss of access to the boat launch has two parts. It wants the federal government to provide $290,000 to study the feasibility of building a new boat launch on the other side of the city at Con Mine. The site is located near the lake on a part of the mine site where an old tank farm used to stand. The city is also asking for all costs associated with building that alternative boat launch.

The territorial government is still considering a city request to transfer the land, that's a part of the Con mine site, to the city to use as an alternate boat launch site.

If the land and water board does not agree that those claims are valid, the city is asking for $13 million in compensation for the public's loss of access to the lake for 10 years.

"Our alternative argument is that Yellowknifers should be compensated for having their access denied," said Alty.

In a separate claim, the city is asking the land and water board to order the federal government to pay the full cost of replacing the aging underwater pipeline the city uses to draw its drinking water from the Yellowknife River. 

The federal government has agreed to pay 75 per cent of the cost, leaving the city to pick up the remaining $8,620,740.

In addition to the city's compensation claims, the land and water board is considering more than half a million dollars in claims submitted by the Great Slave Sailing Club and its members. The Yellowknife Historical Society, which is building a museum and interpretive centre at the Giant townsite, has claimed $222,000 in damages plus $200,000 per year in lost revenue.

The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board is hoping that the federal government and the claimants can reach settlements. If they cannot, the board will hold hearings and, ultimately, decide what compensation is appropriate.