Ongoing site management at Giant Mine

Managing the site until remediation

Keeping the site safe and stable until remediation begins is a top priority for the Project team. For the site, this includes:

• managing risks
• providing care and maintenance
• treating water
• monitoring the environment
• suppressing dust
• planning for emergencies

Safety is our first priority at Giant Mine. The NWT Mine Safety Inspector regularly inspects the site to observe the working conditions on the surface and underground. Mine workers are well-trained in mine safety measures. They often have years of experience working in the mining industry. They take every precaution during their shifts and understand of the risks they face.

Security personnel are present 24 hours a day, throughout the year, to ensure the public does not go on the site. To protect the public, it’s important that people do not enter fenced or signed areas, to avoid hazards and the potential for accidents and injury.

Risk management

The Project team's site stabilization plan addresses how to deal with urgent risks that develop at site. For example, infrastructure and underground workings are more than 60 years old. If these were not managed, they could pose serious health and safety risks to workers, the public, and the environment. The team regularly assesses the site and acts promptly to reduce risks.

The Project team works with regulators to make sure all work to keep the site stable meets regulatory conditions. Regulators include:

• the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
• Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission
• the City of Yellowknife
• the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

The Project team also works with the parties to the Environmental Agreement to ensure they receive information about safety-related work prior to remediation.

Addressing high risks on the site includes assessing structures regularly. If necessary, teams will decontaminate and deconstruct structures or restrict access to them. As well, the team has backfilled areas of the underground to keep the ground stable. The team has one more stope complex under the site stabilization plan, called C5-09, left to fill in 2018 to keep the site stable until final remediation can begin.

Completed stabilization work to date:

• decontaminated and deconstructed the roaster complex
• decontaminated and deconstructed the A-Shaft headframe, assay lab, and former curling club
• conducted an engineering review of underground workings
• reviewed risks of possible underground flooding by Baker Creek
• secured cladding on a number of buildings
• decontaminated and demolished a section of the mill conveyor gallery
• conducted investigative drilling to inform how to make the underground more stable
• decontaminated and deconstructed the C-shaft headframe
• increased bank height along Baker Creek
• finalized work on Jo-Jo Lake historic tailings
• stabilized portions of the B1 Pit wall
• constructed the C1 Pit buttress

For more information, contact the Project Office at (867) 669-2426 or visit the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board's public registry.

For additional details, consult the Risks addressed to date page.

Regular Care and Maintenance

Until a new water licence is in hand, and remediation can begin, the team hired a contractor to continue to ensure safety as the Project moves closer to full remediation. This contractor is the Main Construction Manager, Parsons’ Inc.

The Main Construction Manager:

• tailors and issues work packages and tenders, respecting the local labour market and according to its labour studies
• provides construction management advisory services
• ensures the mine complies with environmental regulations
• maintains site security and public safety
• maintains facilities
• manages mine water
• treats effluent
• monitors the site
• provides constructability and project sequencing advice

As part of its contract with the Project, Parsons Inc. is encouraged to maximize northern and Indigenous employment, sub-contracting, and on-the-job training opportunities, with the expectation that it will involve local, regional, and Indigenous citizens and businesses in its proposals.