One Yukon mine is already evacuated, two others in the Mayo area are taking precautions

With Eagle Mine evacuated because of a growing wildfire, other Yukon mines in the Mayo region are taking precautions — including Hecla Mine, which has been under evacuation alert since Sunday.

Although 49 wildfires are burning in the area, two are of major concern.

There's the East McQuesten fire, which forced Eagle Mine workers to evacuate for a second time last week when the fire reached the access road to the site. 

Then there's the Talbot Creek fire, burning just south of Mayo, which led that community to evacuate on Sunday. That fire's also threatening Hecla Gold and nearby Keno City. Both are under evacuation alert, though neither is in immediate danger, according to Yukon Protective Services.

"We're maintaining normal operations," Mike Satre, Hecla's director of governmental affairs, said Wednesday. "But we're also taking all necessary precautions to protect our facilities and our people from the fire danger."

Hecla is working with the territory to keep the access road to the mine open for personnel and supplies, Satre said. Approximately 180 people work at the site, he said

Lewis Rifkind, a mining analyst with the Yukon Conservation Society, says a recent government report raises questions about what could happen to the surrounding environment should the fire reach the mine.

"Their last mining inspection wasn't good," Rifkind said in an interview. "So that does raise a bit of concern."

In a June inspection undertaken by the territorial government, a number of problems were identified on-site, including improper storage of hazardous materials.

Satre says the company is addressing that issue, along with the others identified in June, and they don't cause any extra concern in the event of an evacuation.

Southwest of Hecla, Banyan Gold is also watching the Talbot Creek fire. 

There's no evacuation alert in place there, but president and CEO Tara Christie says the company is taking precautions. It stopped exploratory drilling on site on July 27, and reduced staffing levels there around the same time, she said Wednesday.

"We've been pretty careful in what we've been doing," Christie said. 

"We have plans in place should, should there be a fire close to us. We also have plans if we have to evacuate very quickly. We have a couple options that are available to us. We spent quite a lot of time on that, given everything that's been going on."

Banyan's camps south of Eagle Mine were offered up to evacuees from that site after the initial evacuation. Christie says Eagle Mine workers are no longer using the site.

According to the latest update from Yukon Protective Services Wednesday afternoon, the Talbot Creek Fire is now roughly 5,000 hectares in size, and is still within about four kilometres of Mayo.