When I was a kid, it was gold mining in Yellowknife. Now it’s diamond mining. Anyway, back in the day, Yellowknife had two working gold mines, Giant and Con. Any local readers remember the Miner’s Mess and the Rec? Yep, Yellowknife had an element of rough-and-tumble to it.
I was too young then to know that the mines would some day run out of gold and they’d close. It also never occurred to me that a strike would become so tense that a union member would plant a bomb in Giant Mine and kill nine scab labourers – one of the largest murder investigations in RCMP history.
And. And. And: It certainly didn’t occur to me that the (US) owner of the mines would OOPS! declare bankruptcy and stick Canadians with the approx HALF-BILLION-DOLLAR clean-up (arsenic) bill.
And that’s just for Giant Mine. There’s also Colomac Mine and Tundra Mine. Oh, and that’s just in the NWT! There’s also Pamour Mine in Ontario, Hope Brook Mine in Newfoundland and Kerness Mine in B.C.
The owner (formerly known as Peggy Witte, now Margaret Kent) of the now-bankrupt mine, I see, is now CEO and President of a new mining company, Century Mining Corp. Interestingly, it looks like Century is up to the same shenanigans this year in Quebec. I hear she has a second home in Hawaii.
There’s worse, folks. Much, much worse.
She’s baaaccccck: Century Mine owns Tamerlane Mine and just guess who’s mining in the NWT – Pine Point. (We’re in good company. Tamerlane is also doing business in Peru.)
Dear us: Who is this Peggy Witte/Margaret Kent that not only does she leave us with nearly a HALF BILLION DOLLAR BILL, but now she’s allowed to have at us again?
What were we thinking?
And if you see her in town, send her my way, will you? I want some of my tax dollars back. From her. Even if she has to sell her house in Hawaii.