BQE Water Inc, a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, under its contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc, says it has discharged over 600,000 cu.m of treated water into the environment from the Eagle gold mine in the Yukon of Canada.
BQE Water was contracted by PwC, in its capacity as court appointed receiver of Victoria Gold, as water treatment consultants and operations specialists to assist with the emergency response at the Eagle gold mine situated on the Traditional Territory of the First Nation Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND) in central Yukon, which experienced a failure in its cyanide heap leach facility back in June 2024. This led to the release of approximately 4 million tons (3.6 Mt) of contaminated ore material into the environment. Following this, numerous environmental orders were issued by various regulatory bodies in respect of the clean-up of the mine site and environmental remediation steps required.
As a result of the failure and the pre-existing water treatment plant unable to treat cyanide leach solution to produce non-toxic effluent, an emergency solution had to be developed and implemented quickly. Working collaboratively with the technical advisors to the Yukon Government, the FNNND, PwC and past Victoria Gold employees, the BQE Water team developed and implemented a treatment process combining existing plant equipment with off-the-shelf rental equipment and newly constructed ponds. Engineering design, lab testing, procurement, operations and toxicological data analysis had to be carried out simultaneously to ensure safe and timely discharge of treated water into the environment.
BQE Water has treated multiple water sources over the course of the project including cyanide heap leach solution contained on site following the heap failure, contact water reporting to leach solution storage ponds during the spring snow melt and contaminated groundwater pumped from interception wells.
The effluent water quality has been continuously monitored using key performance indicators developed by BQE’s team using analytical tools available on site. Effluent quality is further verified by third-party accredited laboratories performing daily testing for toxicity and comprehensive chemical analysis on 24-hour composite samples from the end of pipe.
With the contract extended until October 31, 2025, BQE Water will now continue to be responsible for water treatment operations on site. As the drain-down of solution from the heap leach facility is expected to be substantially complete and the remaining inventory of contaminated water stored at Eagle continues to decrease, the operation of the emergency response system is anticipated to come to an end by the end of the September quarter. Further, as part of the scope of work, BQE Water will prepare a decommissioning plan to wind down the emergency response treatment and a winterisation plan for all water treatment infrastructure that will remain on site over the winter. Subject to PwC’s approval, BQE Water will then implement these plans prior to demobilising from site.
Jani Djokic, the CEO of the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Development Corporation (NNDDC), commented: “The heap leach failure at Eagle has had significant impact on the FNNND lands and waters, including the fish, animals and people who rely on those waters. BQE’s expertise and responsiveness has been very valuable in avoiding even greater impacts – efforts which have included the participation of FNNND businesses and citizens directly in the operations of the emergency treatment system, as well as a Cooperation Agreement with NNDDC.”
David Kratochvil, the President and CEO of BQE Water, added: “Implementing the emergency response treatment system quickly with off-the-shelf pieces of equipment installed in the extreme cold weather and arriving at a continuous and consistent production of non-toxic effluent was very challenging. I am tremendously proud of our team including engineers, operators, aquatic toxicologists and support staff: all working quickly, under a lot of pressure and keeping all stakeholders and regulatory authorities up to date on all developments. The project success is a true showcase of BQE Water’s abilities.”