Winter drilling on the Yellowknife Bay area of Great Slave Lake has begun as part of the Giant Mine Remediation Project.
Flooding to strengthen the ice started on February 9th and is expected to take place over three weeks. Drilling is then expected to start in March and is also expected to take three weeks.
The drilling will provide the project team information about the lake bed’s ability to bear weight for a proposed tailings cover. Officials will also be using the drilling data to help design an outfall location for the new water treatment plant.
The drilling will be happening at three locations; the Yellowknife Bay area of the lake by the Great Slave Sailing Club, the Giant Mine boat launch, and approximately 1 km north along the shoreline from the boat launch.
As the program moves along the shoreline, areas that were drilled and have safely frozen over will be made available to the public.
People in the area are being asked to respect safety signage and keep a safe distance from active work areas.
Active remediation is expected to take approximately 10 years, after which the site will move into long-term monitoring and ongoing care and maintenance.
