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"Albert, would you mind people coming into your country"
"Well no, they do no damage at all, as long as they're nice and clean and doesn't burn the country up."
There are two fully developed mines in the South Nahanni watershed that pose major pollution threats to it's ecology: the Cantung Mine at Tungsten, just north of Watson Lake, YT, at the head of the Flat River; and the Prairie Creek Mine, north of Deadmen's Valley.
The Cantung Mine will reopen this season. It is a large facility with settling ponds just above the start of the Flat River.
The Prairie Creek Mine has never operated, but a large supply of diesel fuel and cyanide chemicals have been stored there for twenty years awaiting its start. Both sites could leach poisonous chemicals into the South Nahanni River.
In addition, several new mining operations are being considered along the Nahanni watershed, and an all-weather access road to the Prairie Creek Mine is nearing construction.
For a recent overview of these commercial developments, see the following sites:
Article from the "Edmonton Journal"
Prairie Creek Mine Company Report & Photos, courtesy of Canadian Zinc Corporation
Prairie Creek Mine Project Description:
HTML
Version PDF
Version
Cantung Mine at Tungsten, NT (at the headwaters of the Flat &
near top of the Little Nahanni):
Photograph
Story
North American
Tungsten web site
WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THIS GIVES YOU CONCERN:
see postings at:
Canadian Nature
Federation
and
Canadian
Parks & Wilderness Society
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