N.S. promises priority cleanup list for abandoned mines by end of year | CBC News
Deputy Minister Julie Towers said the triage system will pave the way for a systematic cleanup of those abandoned mine sites, which are now the responsibility of the province.
So far, the provincial government has only costed out the remediation of the gold mines in Montague and Goldenville, which is estimated at $48 million.
In a report released last October, provincial Auditor General Michael Pickup criticized the government for what he called “ineffective monitoring and reporting of abandoned mine sites.”
He recommended the government do more to determine the overall the cost of cleaning up the sites and to evaluate their potential to “negatively impact human and ecological health.”