WATCH ABOVE: 16×9’s full investigation into “Contamination Nation.”
Giant Mine was once one of Canada’s richest gold mines, creating jobs and yielding more than 200 tonnes of the precious metal between 1948 and 2004.
It’s often been credited with helping to build the city of Yellowknife, NWT.
TIMELINE: Yellowknife’s Giant Mine
But there is a darker side to Giant Mine as well, one which may leave taxpayers on the hook for nearly $1 billion.
The process used to extract gold from the mine created a highly toxic dust called arsenic trioxide. Today there is a large quantity of the substance buried underground, perilously close to downtown Yellowknife and an important marine ecosystem.
READ MORE: Arsenic trioxide: What is it is and why it’s so dangerous
Environmental advocate Kevin O’Reilly says the total amount of arsenic trioxide stored beneath the mine site is 237,000 tonnes.
“There’s probably enough underground to kill every person on the planet a couple times over,” he says.
WATCH: An aerial view of the Giant Mine site in Yellowknife, NT.
If the creek that runs through the property floods, the consequences for the environment and the health of local residents would be disastrous, says O’Reilly. Thousands of kilograms of the toxic by-product could leak out.
“Yellowknife is right next to Great Slave Lake, it’s one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world, in Canada if not the world,” he says. “And this water flows where? Down the Mackenzie River – Canada’s biggest river.”
WATCH: Kevin O’Reilly talks about the toxic arsenic trioxide contamination created by the Giant Mine in Yellowknife, NT.
The government is planning to freeze the chambers that are holding the arsenic dust in place, to prevent it from escaping into the surrounding soils and waterways. That plan will cost taxpayers $903 million, plus an additional $2 million per year to maintain the freezing system forever – or at least until new technologies evolve to safely dispose of the substance.
The company that operated the mine is not around anymore, and the government never required any of the companies that subsequently took ownership of Giant Mine to clean up the pollution, says O’Reilly.
WATCH: Former Dene Yellowknives First Nation Chief, Fred Sangris, talks about how the gold at the Giant Mine site was discovered.
16×9 contacted the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, which is responsible for Giant Mine, to request an interview, but the ministry declined.
There are more than 22,000 other contaminated sites across the country that the government must pay to clean up. And some say there could be more on the horizon.
READ MORE: Is there a contaminated site near you?
Scott Vaughan, the former federal Environment Commissioner, says Canadian laws don’t require companies to foot the entire bill for cleaning up the pollution that they create.
Last April, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that it will cost $7 billion to clean up all of the federally owned contaminated sites.
READ MORE: Producer’s blog
WATCH: Producer Brennan Leffler talks about Canada’s contaminated sites, and why they’re a $7 billion problem for taxpayers.
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