Toenails, saliva and urine could answer questions about Giant Mine’s toxic legacy – CBC

200 people from Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndilo are giving toenail, urine, saliva samples to test for arsenic

Nov 07, 2017

When Johanne Black gazes across Yellowknife’s Back Bay all she sees is a monster.

“I have always worried living in this community. What are the risks on us?” she says, staring directly at the source of her fear — Giant Mine.

Black is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. Her home community of Ndilo sits directly across the bay from the toxic former gold mine.

Now shuttered, the site belched thousands of tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust — a byproduct from mining — from its smelters over its 56-year life. The federal government has been prepping the site in hopes of starting remediation in 2020, which will see the arsenic permanently frozen in underground chambers.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/arsenic-study-yellowknife-1.4389511