Victoria Gold accident could be heap leach spill in Yukon

Victoria Gold (TSXV: GCX) has suspended operations at its Eagle mine in the Yukon after an accident at its heap leach pad. There were no injuries, the company said.

The site operations teams and management are working on assessing the situation and gathering information, the company said in a release Monday. Eagle, the territory’s only producing gold mine, is located about 375 km north of Whitehorse.

“At this early stage, it can be confirmed that there has been some damage to infrastructure and a portion of the failure has left containment,” Victoria said. “There have been no injuries to personnel associated with the incident.”

Shares in Victoria Gold plunged 85% to $1.05 apiece in Toronto on Tuesday, valuing the company at $73.1 million. They've traded as high as $9.45 over the past 52 weeks. 

The primary leaching pad can accommodate as much as 90 million tonnes of ore. It’s located about 1.2 km north of the main Eagle zone orebody, in the Ann Gulch valley, according to a Victoria technical report.