North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Years ago, Graham C. Dickson found himself in the difficult position of trying to clean up an environmental mess made by predecessors at the mining company where he worked.

"I learned that the best way to address environmental issues is with sustainable mining," Dickson told Mining News in a recent interview. "So I've always tried to do better than what the regulators asked. Experience tells me you'd better do that from the start."

Today, Dickson is president and CEO of Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp., a hardrock mining company with gold production in Nevada and exploration projects under way in both Nevada and the Yukon Territory.

The Vancouver, B.C.-based company recently won the Yukon Territory's 2007 Robert E. Leckie award for outstanding quartz (hard rock) reclamation practices in recognition of work at its Ketza River property about 90 kilometers, or 56 miles, south of Ross River.

The Yukon's highest honor for miners, the award highlights Yukon-Nevada Gold's "progressive policies and unwavering efforts to reclaim this mine site," government officials said.

Bob Leckie, after whom the award was named, was a Mayo mining inspector and an innovator dedicated to developing progressive land use practices for mining.

Ketza River has gold mining history

Canamax Resources Ltd. operated a mine at Ketza River from 1988 to 1990, using both open pit and underground mining methods. About 342,395 metric tons of ore were mined, producing about 3.1 million grams of gold.

Ketza River Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of YGC Resources Ltd., purchased the abandoned mine, and after several years of preliminary assessments and surveys, began operating a year-round exploration drilling program in April 2005.

YGC Resources, Ketza River Holdings' parent company, merged with Queenstake Resources Ltd. in May 2007, forming Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.

The company has explored several areas at the Ketza River mine site but focused on one area known as the Manto Zone with extensive drilling programs in 2006 and 2007.

Company officials said they hope to begin extracting gold from the Manto Zone later this year or in early 2009, producing up to 140,000 ounces a year.

A majority of the facilities used by Canamax are still on the site and may be used again by Ketza River Holdings, the company said. These include access roads, camp facilities, tailings pond, mill and other buildings.

Expertise and commitment make difference

The Leckie award reflects the vigorous clean-up program that Yukon-Nevada conducted on this previously abandoned site. Reclamation efforts include: removing waste petroleum contaminants, and chemicals from the site, disposing of six hundred barrels of various substances and over one hundred truck loads of trash.

Three waste dump areas established by the previous operator and previously drilled areas have been reclaimed, re-sloped and seeded. Several old buildings and scrap metal have been removed. The mill has been cleaned up and secured, and a new incinerator has replaced the landfill.

Dickson attributes winning the environmental honor to the company's high-quality reclamation team and Yukon-Nevada's commitment to acting responsibly no matter where it conducts business.

A China connection in the Yukon

Yukon-Nevada's philosophy of sustainable mining and its resulting practices "are ones we intend to implement wherever we find mining opportunities, whether those opportunities occur in Canada, the United States or China," Dickson said in an apparent reference to the company's new joint venture with a Chinese firm.

Yukon-Nevada entered a joint venture in October with Northwest Non-Ferrous International Investment Co., an investment arm of Northwest Geological Exploration and Mining Bureau for Non-Ferrous Metals, a major subsidiary of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Metallurgy, a top exploration and mining agency in China.

"My shareholders expect me to act responsibly no matter where we are. You don't change your actions just because the rules change," he added.

Yukon-Nevada said the new 50-50 venture, named Yukon-Shaanxi Gold Co. Inc., aims to explore for mining opportunities in the Yukon Territory. Not only will the alliance provide Yukon-Nevada with access to investment capital, it also will give the Canadian company access to Northwest Geological's 6,000 skilled employees, including 800 geologists, engineers and technicians, Dickson said.