INNOVATION September-October 2018

C O M M U N I T Y

COMMEMORATING MINING HISTORY

Several years ago, Dr. Jeff Wilson, P.Geo., started getting accustomed to the idea of wearing two hats: one as a professional geologist and mining regulatory expert, and one as a semi-professional artist and painter. More recently, he’s had a chance to combine the two by rendering abandoned mining equipment in rural Yukon on canvas before it’s gone forever. Wilson has been commissioned by Alexco Resource Corp. to complete eight paintings of old mining equipment around Keno City, Yukon, most of which was abandoned after a long stretch of silver mining activity between 1919 and 1989. The equipment, ranging from rusty minecars and tramways, ore shacks, dorms, railroad tracks, and underground adits, is part of the remaining evidence of one of the richest silver deposits in Canadian history. Mining activity once sustained the economy of Keno City, whose population today sits at about 20. In recent years, the region—known as the Keno Hill Silver District—attracted interest from Alexco, who purchased the claims from the Government of Canada in 2006. Alexco plans to bring four properties into production but, as part of the claim purchase, Alexco also agreed to spearhead a massive environmental cleanup of the area, and try to apply modern environmental standards to project work sites that were abandoned long ago. Alexco President Brad Thrall says the company has already committed about $20 million—a figure he expects to rise substantially. “The whole thing is very community minded,” he says. “We’ve been working very closely with the community and First Nations on this project. The old Elsa Mine [about 12 kilometers west of Keno City] is one of the biggest closure pieces, so we’re consolidating historic tailings spread out on the ground. Some of the underground adits are still producing zinc, so we’re building a water treatment plant,” he says. But Alexco also wanted to find a way to memorialize the mining legacy in the area before it was mothballed for good. Alexco thought they could use Wilson’s skills—as a painter, not a geologist—to help commemorate the mining work in the area that began more than a hundred years ago. Wilson’s connections to the mining industry came through his work as a professional geologist and regulatory specialist, overseeing regulatory reports for mining clients. Around 2010, Wilson toyed with art on the side by signing up for night classes to “learn how to put paint on canvas.” He continued to become progressively more serious about

T op : Dr. Jeff Wilson, P.Geo., and a self-portrait.

An adit from the former Hector-Calumet Mine, located near one of the richest-ever vein deposits of its type.

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