Cost estimate for cleanup of abandoned N.S. mines still 'a few years' away
“. . .
A gold rush in the late 1800s — long before environmental legislation was introduced — led to arsenic and mercury contamination at sites throughout Nova Scotia. The tailings, the material left over after the ore was processed to extract gold, still remains at many sites, and along with it, the risk of contamination.
Provincial Auditor General Kim Adair raised concerns in her December report that insufficient site investigations and environmental testing pose a potential risk to human and ecological health, as well as an unknown financial liability.
Those concerns were echoed Wednesday by NDP MLA Claudia Chender, who called the sites "a massive Pandora's box environmentally but also financially,"
. . .”