Emergency Response to Eagle Mine Crisis

On June 24, 2024, Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine experienced a catastrophic heap leach failure. This caused millions of tonnes of cyanide-solution laden ore to spread across the land and waterways on the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun’s Traditional Territory.

The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND) remains actively involved with the ongoing mitigation and remediation efforts at the Eagle Gold Mine site, including ongoing environmental monitoring.

As part of existing and new cooperation agreements, work has been done to ensure that FNNND Citizen-owned businesses, and NNDDC preferred partners have been prioritized contractors. The following contractors are currently active on site: White Water Management, BQE Water Inc. (NNDDC preferred partner), Aria Filtra, Arctic Sky Welding, Northern Cascade (NND Citizen owned), Stantec, Ewing Transport Ltd. (NND Citizen owned), Too Tall Construction (NND Citizen owned), AUL (NNDDC preferred partner), ATCO (NNDDC preferred partner), Small’s Expediting (NNDDC preferred partner), Underhill Geomatic (NNDDC preferred partner), Pelly Construction (NNDDC preferred partner), SHE Consulting, Finning, Mayo Fuels (NND Citizen owned), Trail Blazer, Tuchone Air Leasing (NNDDC joint corporation).

The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun remains committed to providing consistent and on-going public updates regarding the response to the Eagle Mine disaster, which are available here EmergencyResponse to Eagle Mine Crisis

Update on Activity at Eagle Mine Site

Safety

The increased levels of water from the spring melt continue to be a significant concern for FNNND. The team is working hard to ensure that appropriate mitigations are implemented to avoid additional spill-over incidents that could have significant environmental contaminant potential.

Site Construction
Two new berms have been constructed on site. One berm has been constructed for the purpose of directing the flow of cyanide contaminated water, while the other has been constructed to restrict the flow of contaminated water into Haggart Creek.

Heap Stabilization work has been delayed due to the lack of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) required for the shipping of cyanide contaminate samples. Despite this ongoing issue, the Engineer of Record is moving ahead with geotechnical analysis and reporting that can be done without the sample analysis.

Contaminated Groundwater Collection
Consistent collection of contaminated groundwater has been conducted by the Receiver during this period. This work is vital for reducing the flow of contaminants into Haggart Creek.

Storage

Onsite storage remains crucial to containing contaminated water onsite, particularly as an influx of water will occur during the spring melt. During this period, new onsite storage construction has been conducted. “Pit Pond 3” has been built for holding pumped contaminated ground water, while “1075 Pond” is intended for holding pumped contaminated ground water surrounding the site’s waste rock dump. The total current pond capacities as of May 5, 2025:
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● Events Pond – 232,000 m3 (~56% full)
● Control Pond – 78,000 m3 (~99% full)
● IROSA Pond 1 – 24,000 m3 (0% full)
● Pit Pond 1 – 157,000 m3 (~90% full)
● IROSA Pond 2 – 17,000 m3 (20% full; leaking)
● NEW – Pit Pond 3 – 74,000 m3 (~65% full)
● NEW – 1075 Pond – 90,000 m3 (~0% full, waiting to be lined)
● Storage by recirculating to heap – About 250,000 m3o
A contractor has been engaged to drill into the in-heap pond, to allow pumping directly from this area. Drilling is expected to begin May 12.
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In December, a leak was detected from IROSA Pond 2, leading to spikes in contaminant levels in the groundwater and Haggart Creek (more below). Contaminated water in this pond almost all drained out by early March, but the pond has since been put back in use for storage of treated water.

Water Treatment & Discharge

The water treatment & discharge process has begun, but to date the treated and discharged water has not met all effluent standards, with exceedances measured for various parameters including cyanide and copper. This has led to significant spikes in cyanide concentration levels in Haggart Creek, at times exceeding the harmful effects on aquatic life limits.

Treated water discharge has been occurring since April 20, 2025 at a rate of approximately 1,800 and 5,900 m3 per day.

FNNND’s Water Monitoring Update

Regular water monitoring continues in the Haggart Creek watershed in accordance with the water monitoring plan as co-designed by Stantec, FNNND, and Yukon Government’s Department of Energy Mines and Resources.

The IROSA Pond 2 leak, an onsite mid-February spill of contaminated water, and the high-cyanide water in Eagle Creek discharge in early March led to periodic spikes in contaminant levels in Haggart Creek. Cyanide concentrations in Haggart Creek still remain at levels likely to cause negative effects on aquatic life within 7 km downstream of the mine. Contaminant concentrations in Haggart Creek have declined at the northern-most water monitoring station (W22) in recent weeks, and had largely stabilised in the creek within 7 km of the mine before the early March toxic discharges.

Since April 30, 2025, contaminant concentrations in Haggart Creek have declined at the northern-most water monitoring station in the Dublin Gulch (W22). However, prior to this period, the contaminated levels in Haggart Creek have been especially high (at 2-4-times the thresholds for acute effects on aquatic life), between April 26th-28th within 3 km of the mine. The cause of this spike in levels of contaminants in the creek is presently being investigated and may be related to remobilisation of contaminants from the sediments during the increased discharge activities, issues at the Water Treatment Plant, or issues with analyses of the water samples. Water samples from the Water Treatment Plant have been consistently passing lab toxicity tests, so discharge to Haggart Creek has continued.

FNNND’s Aquatic Health & Fish Monitoring Update

Fish Monitoring

Due to the season, there has been no new sampling of fish and fish habitat. Summer monitoring planning is currently underway.

Planning is ongoing for protection of the spring grayling run, as well as spring and summer monitoring of fish and other aquatic life. FNNND is anticipating sharing these plans with the public as soon as they are finalized.

Yukon Government’s Chief Medical Health Officer issued a statement recommending that for the time being people avoid fish consumption from the Haggart Creek area, and to always avoid consuming dead or unwell fish.

Other Aquatic Life
There were no new surveys of other aquatic life during the winter. Teams made up of staff and contractors from FNNND, Environment Yukon, EMR, and DFO finished sampling of benthic invertebrates (insects that live in creek bottoms) in the Haggart Creek watershed and at a couple of sites on the South McQuesten River in summer 2024.

FNNND’s Wildlife Monitoring Update

Unlike heavy metals, cyanide does not bioaccumulate in terrestrial animals. Therefore, Yukon Government has recommended that wildlife in the area remains safe to hunt and eat. FNNND will continue to monitor the situation and announce any changes to this recommendation.

Wildlife and other ecological monitoring is expected to be undertaken through the summer months.

FNNND, in collaboration with the Yukon Government Department of Environment, launched a Wildlife Contaminants Monitoring Program in the fall to collect more data on the impacts on wildlife.

Independent Review & Policy Changes

On August 30, YG launched an Independent Review Board (“IRB”) under the Guidelines for Mine Waste Management Facilities, to investigate the technical causes of the Eagle Gold Mine heap leach failure. The FNNND has not been informed of how the IRB is progressing, a final report is expected for June 2025.

On September 6, FNNND released an open letter expressing the Nation’s concern that the scope of the IRB’s investigation is insufficient and fails to consider the systemic issues that may have contributed to the collapse, including the role of YG’s regulatory oversight.

FNNND continues to advocate for the establishment of an independent public inquiry with robust investigative powers pursuant to the Public Inquiries Act, to undertake a comprehensive investigation into all contributing factors to the Eagle Gold Mine catastrophe.

NT4