WHITEHORSE, YT – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved the Yukon Government’s application to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. as the receiver of Victoria Gold, with Parsons Inc. to serve as Lead Environmental Consultant for remediation work at the Eagle Gold mine.
The Yukon Government had initiated the application on Monday, August 12th, stating that they had lost confidence in the ability of Victoria Gold’s management to respond appropriately and competently to the incident at the Heap Leach Facility at their Eagle Gold mine, and the subsequent environmental fallout from that failure.
The government cited Victoria Gold’s failure to fully comply with previous Inspector’s Directions, a lack of urgency on behalf of the company, a stated lack of funds necessary to remediate the site, and the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation’s lost confidence in Victoria Gold as their reasoning.
A court hearing on the matter was scheduled for Wednesday, August 14th, with a decision in favor of the Yukon Government being delivered at 2pm local time (eastern).
With receivership now in place, the Yukon Government, through PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc, has full access and authority to leverage all of Victoria Gold’s assets and properties to ensure compliance with Environmental Orders. The Government has also confirmed they will be issuing a funding package to PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. for environmental remediation work, and that this funding will be treated as a debt owed to the Territory that will be recovered through Victoria Gold’s assets. As per court order, repayment of this debt has been prioritized over other outstanding debts owed by Victoria Gold.
The Yukon Government’s Cabinet Communications team stressed that this is not a liquidation of the company, and the move ensures taxpayers are not on the hook to cover the costs of any equipment or supplies necessary as remediation at the mine site continues.
