The Yukon Supreme Court has granted the receivership request on the Wolverine Mine southeast of Ross River, as requested by the territorial government.

The government presented its application to appoint a receiver in the matter to Justice Suzanne Duncan on Friday afternoon.

John Porter, the lawyer representing the government, told the court that they are back to where they were last month when it originally argued for receivership.

He explained that the Yukon Zinc Corp., the owner of the mine, made an application in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Aug. 22.

This put a stay on the government’s application for the appointment of PricewaterhouseCopper Inc. as receiver.

Duncan overturned the stay earlier this month, and Yukon Zinc appealed this decision.

The government agreed to stand down the receivership application if the company paid two liens $350,000 and $268,000 respectively.

The first payment was due before the end of August, while the second one had to be paid by Sept. 6.

If made on time, the government agreed to abandon the application. If the company defaulted, the government would go ahead with its application.

“The funds that were due at the end of August did not come in,” Porter said.

He added that Yukon Zinc’s counsel called him and indicated that he did not know when the liens could be paid. The second payment was not made either.

“We (the government) can’t stand by,” Porter said.

He pointed out that the company has no funds. He argued that action needs to be taken to get control of the situation.

He added that the government is currently on the mine site.

Porter said that there is no environmental emergency at this point, but the government needs to address this issue.

He added that the company’s employees were paid up to Sept. 6. He questioned the company’s future ability to do so.

A temporary water treatment plant has been set up and is running. It should be able to discharge some water in the next couple of weeks, the court was told.

Duncan asked how much of the $10 million security remained. Laurie Henderson, of the territorial Department of Justice, explained that most of it was used to set up the treatment plant.

Porter said there needs to be a plan in place. He added there is a mechanism to bring this to court, to deal with employees and get the situation under control.

Kibben Jackson, the lawyer representing Yukon Zinc and appearing by phone, said there is no money to advance under the company’s credit.

He clarified that he did not have any instruction from his client to oppose the government application.

Porter said the company leased multiple pieces of equipment from a company referred to as Welichen, which has an interest in this matter.

The equipment is on site.

Porter proposed that the receiver could go on the site and make the arrangements on what to do with the equipment.

Nigel Beckman, Welichen’s lawyer who also appeared by phone, said that was accurate.

Porter said the government is not trying to force the company to go into insolvency. He clarified that Yukon Zinc management could do that if desired on their end.

“We’re not asking to put the company into bankruptcy,” Porter said.

He explained that all the government wants is the receiver to go in and deal with site issues. It wants to ensure the environmental charge is not trumped by anything else.

The secure creditors will not change. He added that the receiver’s powers have nothing unusual about them.

Duncan indicated that she was prepared to sign the order sought by the government, as Jackson had no instructions to oppose it. She felt it was appropriate to do so.

Yukon Zinc suspended operations at the Wolverine Mine in January 2015.

It went through bankruptcy proceedings during which many companies in the Yukon and outside the territory received just pennies for every dollar owed.

Yukon Zinc retained ownership of the mine.