5 more old gold mines to be studied for cleanup

The province is moving forward with its plan to assess and clean up dozens of sites that were potentially contaminated by gold mining over 100 years ago.

Build Nova Scotia, the provincial corporation overseeing the project, issued tenders on May 12 for an environmental consultant to study the sites of former gold mines in Mill Village, Queens County, and Country Harbour Mines in Guysborough County.

An additional tender was published on May 18 for Lochaber Mines in Halifax County, and two more for Miller Lake and Widow Point in Guysborough County were issued on May 25.

The consultants are expected to confirm whether contaminants are present, and if so, what types and where they are.

Sites largely on Crown land

"We have recommended and advanced five more sites to environmental assessment phase of this program," said an emailed statement from Donald Burke, the executive director of Build Nova Scotia. 

"The rationale in choosing these sites is predominantly ownership — all or more than 90 per cent of the known mine tailings on these sites are located on Crown lands."

Nova Scotia has experienced several gold rushes over the years, with people from all over the world flocking to the province to hunt for the precious metal in the 1860s, 1880s and 1930s.

Many historical gold mining operations used mercury and cyanide to extract gold from ore, and the contaminated material was simply dumped in nearby waterways or left on the ground. Over the years, contaminants from some locations have been carried by water bodies, expanding the affected areas.

In 2018, the province announced plans to clean up two of Nova Scotia's most contaminated historical mines, with an estimated cost of $48 million. That estimate has since ballooned to $60 million.

Assessments of five other sites are underway, but dozens of others are on the list for future study.

Work to get underway next month

The consultants who are chosen to conduct the studies will visit the locations and take samples based on where contaminants are known or suspected to be, the location of water in the area and the pathways of potential exposure.

They will assess the likelihood that contaminants have affected adjacent properties, and figure out what direction they're moving in, how fast, and the potential risk to human and ecological health.

They will review any previous environmental studies, historical documents and aerial photos, and summarize the environmental history of the sites.

The tender requires the winning bidders to file a report providing remediation options, including a preferred option, as well as cost estimates for carrying out the plan.

Work on the studies is anticipated to get underway in June, with the reports expected by November.

Country Harbour Mines

The Country Harbour Mines site is located along the John Fenton Loop Road west of Country Harbour Mines, about 15 kilometres northwest of Goldboro on the Eastern Shore.

It is about 42 hectares and has 46 known abandoned mine openings, including some that are classified as hazardous because they are not fenced off or filled, and consist of flooded pits, shafts, trenches and sunken spots. 

The location was mined between 1871 and 1951, producing 9,960 ounces of gold.

About 13,000 tonnes of tailings remains on the site to this day.

Mill Village

The Mill Village-area site is located a couple of kilometres west of Charleston, northeast of Liverpool, and comprises about 2.28 hectares.

The site has seven known abandoned mine openings, with the main shaft having been capped in 2013 and the others permanently filled in.

There is one reported tailings area — where the material left over after gold was extracted was dumped — of about 1,320 square metres.

The location was mined from 1900 to 1902, then in 1930, 1934 and from 1946 to 1951.

There were two separate mines in the area — the Gold Eagle mine, which is on private property, and the Thompson mine, which is on Crown land. Since Build Nova Scotia is only charged with cleaning up sites on Crown land, the Gold Eagle mine is not part of the study.

Lochaber

The former Lochaber mine is about four kilometres north of the community of Lochaber Mines, north of Sheet Harbour, and covers about six hectares.

Gold was found at the site in the early 1880s and was initially believed to have significant potential, but the mine only ever produced a small amount of gold. Mercury is believed to have been used in processing at the site.

The area is overgrown with mature trees and alders, so locating tailings and waste rock deposits was difficult for a Build Nova Scotia team that visited. The site also includes some abandoned mine openings that are not filled in, and only some are fenced off, the tender document says.

Miller Lake

The Miller Lake site, a huge Crown property covering 23,067 hectares, is nestled among the Liscomb River Wilderness Area, the Boggy Lake Wilderness Area and the Alder Grounds Wilderness Area northwest of Liscomb.

The former mine site itself covers about 220 hectares and has about 56 abandoned mine openings. About 30 of the openings are "reported to have moderate to poor escape potential," according to the tender, and others are not backfilled or mapped.

There are three tailings areas with an estimated 1,200 tonnes of material. One of the tailings sites is easily identifiable "due to a noticeable lack of vegetation growth," the tender notes.

Mining began in 1900 and continued until 1948, with a modest amount of gold — between 483 and 539 ounces — produced from the site.

The site is currently used to periodically harvest timber, and that is also its anticipated future use.

Widow Point

The former mine site at Widow Point covers about 3.6 hectares in West Side Country Harbour, north of Port Bickerton.

Sampling and prospecting were first carried out at the site in 1948, and a stamp mill, used to crush ore, was erected in 1949. But the site only ever produced a small amount of gold — about 13 ounces, and no active milling is believed to have taken place after 1951, though other tests and prospecting occurred up to 1975.

Mercury is believed to have been used in processing at the site.

A tailings site is believed to exist, but during a visit to the site by the Department of Natural Resources, staff could not locate it. DNR backfilled one abandoned mine opening in 2022.