Assets from Yukon's bankrupt Wolverine Mine up for quick sale

Bits and pieces of the Yukon's defunct Wolverine Mine are now up for grabs, as the company that owns the assets prepares for a quick sale. 

Welichem Equipment, a B.C. biotech company, owns most of the mine's assets, including a zinc mill, 10-megawatt diesel plant and a turnkey mine camp for 250 workers. Welichem rented the mining equipment to Yukon Zinc Corporation, the company that operated the mine before abandoning it.

James Dai, the Welichem's chief financial officer, told CBC News that the company is hoping the vast majority of the assets go to a local mining company. 

"That would be ideal and that would be economically great and environmentally friendly," Dai said. 

The Wolverine Mine, located 282 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse, produced copper, lead and zinc from 2011 to 2015. Yukon Zinc Corporation ran into financial trouble during its operation and never paid the full $25 million it owed in security costs. The site then fell into disrepair and in 2019 Yukon Zinc declared bankruptcy.

Earlier that year, the territorial government successfully petitioned for Yukon Zinc to be put into receivership, leaving PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. in charge of managing the mine site. Two years later, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. wanted to find a buyer for the mine, but failed to. 

There are already a few candidates interested in buying parts of the former mine, Dai said. 

Welichem is working directly with Hecla, the company that purchased the Keno Hill Silver District property in Yukon last year. That sale included the acquisition of Alexco Resource Corporation, a company that was already re-developing the region for silver, lead and zinc extraction. 

Another possible buyer for the Wolverine assets is Norzinc, the company behind Prairie Creek mine in the Northwest Territories. 

Dai said Welichem has been coordinating with the team there to get them on site to see the assets up close for themselves.

Welichem Equipment won the Wolverine assets back from the Yukon government in an appeals case last year. 

Dai said the government is "forcing" the company into a quick sale.

"The government has made it very clear that the page is turned on keeping Wolverine as an operating mine or … mill," he said. 

The Yukon government still has a stake in the property. 

The government took over care and maintenance at the mine site in the fall of 2022 from a court-appointed receiver. 

A spokesperson for Yukon's Department of Energy, Mines and Resources told CBC News in an email that the territory is working with Welichem to coordinate site visits for interested buyers. 

The territory will also be in charge of future remediation efforts on the Wolverine property. A statement from the government says it is still putting together a plan for when to conduct the remediation work and determining how much it'll cost.