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Feds charge Miramar for two-year-old fuel spill

CEO: “I am embarrassed and my company is embarrassed”

JIM BELL

Officials at Environment Canada laid charges this month against Miramar Mining Corp. for a diesel fuel spill that occurred at an exploration camp on Inuit-owned land in the Kitikmeot region — two years ago.

The charges — laid under the Fisheries Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, and the Nunavut Waters and Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act — relate to an incident that occurred June 16, 2004, when about 19,000 litres of diesel fuel ended up in Windy Lake, close to the “Madrid” section of Miramar’s Hope Bay gold project.

“I am embarrassed and my company is embarrassed, because it is our goal to become the most environmentally responsible mining company in the North,” said Tony Walsh, Miramar’s president and CEO.

Walsh said the company reported the spill as soon as it happened, disclosed the information in stock market filings, and disclosed the information in its final environmental impact statement for the nearby Doris North gold mine project.

He said Miramar cleaned up the mess “to the satisfaction of the landowners,” the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, and imposed more stringent procedures for fuel handling.

That includes a policy that all fuel areas at Miramar exploration camps will now be enclosed by berms, Walsh said.

Miramar’s Hope Bay project takes in an 80-kilometre belt of gold-bearing rock north-east of Bathurst Inlet in the Kitikmeot region. Since 1999, when Miramar started exploring the area, they have confirmed that at least five million ounces of gold lies within the area.

The proposed Doris North mine, which would exploit a small portion of the Hope Bay gold belt, was recently given a green light by the Nunavut Impact Review Board. The company is waiting for final approval from Jim Prentice, the DIAND minister.

It’s not clear why Environment Canada waited two years to file charges.

Craig Broome, manager of environmental enforcement at the Environment Canada office in Yellowknife, said the spill was the subject of an investigation and an inspection.

Though the charges were filed at the Iqaluit courthouse, the case will likely be heard in Cambridge Bay, Broome said. The next court date for the case is Aug. 28.

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