Victoria Gold president John McConnell says the company is doing everything it can to ensure the health and safety of its workers at its Eagle Gold Mine.

The company has advised its Yukon employees who are out on days off to self-isolate for 14 days before returning for their shift in the middle of April, he explained this morning.

McConnell told the Star employees who are from outside the Yukon will be transported to the territory on a charter flight, then self-isolated in Whitehorse hotel rooms for the two weeks before being transported to the mine site near Mayo.

The mine went from the standard two-week rotation to a one-month rotation two weeks ago, he pointed out.

McConnell said none of Victoria Gold employees have left or gone into the mine in the last 10 or 12 days.

The next crew change is scheduled for mid-April, and the company is working out the logistics of providing self-isolation for those who will be arriving on the charter, he said.

The company president pointed out that 60 per cent of its workforce is made up of Yukoners who are able to self-isolate at home.

Anybody who can work from home has been asked to do so, he said.

“We are also getting a lot of people who are volunteering to stay longer and keep working,” he said.

He said there are currently 172 employees at the mine site.

Health Minister Pauline Frost issued a Facebook post Thursday night emphasizing that all Yukoners returning home either by air or road and all visitors to the territory are required to self-isolate for 14 days.

“This includes all workers arriving in Yukon, by vehicle or air, to work at a placer or hardrock mine, exploration camp, or any other business or duty associated with the mining and exploration industry,” says the minister’s post.

“You may not conduct your regular duties in camp or at a mine while in self-isolation.”

In a letter to Premier Sandy Silver on Wednesday, Mayo’s First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (NND) calls upon the Yukon government to take steps to put mines in care and maintenance.

“NND intends to utilize every tool available to us under the NND Final Agreement and the NND Self-Government Agreement to respond to this emergency and to protect the health of our citizens,” says the letter from Chief Simon Mervyn. “But we cannot protect our citizens alone; we need your help.”

Mervyn said the government needs to implement stronger measures to protect remote, Indigenous communities.

“The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (NND) is deeply concerned by this pandemic and the potential impacts it could have on our community and on our people, especially our elders,” says the letter.

The First Nation is also asking the government to place a temporary halt on prospectors coming to and staking our land.

The Na-Cho Nyäk Dun council passed a resolution Wednesday setting out 11 steps it is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:

“We call on all mines and industrial activities to immediately without delay go into care and maintenance in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

The Victoria Gold president said he is aware of the letter sent by the chief to the premier.

With all the steps being taken by the company, McConnell said, Victoria Gold is confident it’s doing all it can and more to prevent the spread of the virus, he said.

At this time, said McConnell, the company believes continued operation of the Eagle Gold Mine is the best thing for everybody.

“Right now our site is the safest place to be,” he said. “Everybody is healthY and working hard.”

Executive director Brook Rudolph of the Klondike Placer Miners Association said this morning the association shared the health minister’s message on Facebook and through a newsletter sent out late last night to its membership.

She said the association is working to support placer miners in their response to Frost’s directive.

“The health and safety of all Yukoners is of great concern to us,” Rudolph said.

Communications manager Jesse Devost of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources said this morning the department is in contact with the mining community about the COVID-19 concerns.

“Since the chief medical officer of health’s requirement on Sunday that all people arriving in Yukon to work must self-isolate for 14 days, we know that miners who have arrived in Yukon to work at the Minto and Eagle Gold mines since then have either been self-isolating at hotels in Whitehorse, or have chosen to return back to their point of origin,” he said in an email.

“We have been in frequent contact with Victoria Gold about the requirements for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and how those requirements will be adhered to at the mine.”

Since the shift change is not for a few weeks, Devost said, they do have time to firm up plans to ensure all requirements are being followed.

“We are actively working on details and will be able to discuss more as they are worked out,” he said.

Devost pointed out any mine going into a care and maintenance mode would still require a sizable staff to ensure that environmental standards are met.