Northern regulator raises doubts on Giant Mine cleanup plans

YELLOWKNIFE – A northern regulatory board has raised doubts about federal plans to clean up a massive, arsenic-laden mess at Yellowknife’s defunct Giant Mine.

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review boards says the government must look for a better way to deal with 250,000 tonnes of arsenic stored underground at the former gold mine on the shores of Great Slave Lake.

The government is proposing to keep the poison frozen underground — forever.

The board wants detailed risk and human health assessments.

And it says the cleanup must be managed independently from government.

Recent estimates say cleaning up the surface and toxins below ground would cost nearly $1 billion, all of it borne by taxpayers.