In what appears to be a first in Canadian history, a community is hoping to inaugurate mining waste as a protected historic site. Dawson City, Yukon, the former capital of the Klondike Gold Rush, is aiming to preserve several hectares of unremediated dredge tailings. Dawson City noted they were seeking the “protection necessary to ensure its cultural value isn’t lost.”The tailings are all the result of dredge mining. However, by the 1920s Klondike gold mining had been industrialized with massive building-sized bucket dredges. In fact, a badly scarred mining site is currently on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

Source: National Post March 07, 2017 14:17 UTC