A Yukon government inspector will be visiting the Minto mine in the coming week after an 800-litre diesel fuel spill occurred when a Pelly Construction excavator tipped over.

Lorraine Millar is the manager of mineral services for the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources.

She said this morning an inspector will be at the mine to check on the situation in the coming week.

While the department could have sent someone immediately after the Dec. 17 spill, Millar noted that doesn’t normally happen if the company is following all the necessary procedures. That is the case for this spill.

The mishap, which happened at 5:30 p.m., was reported immediately to the Yukon spill line, as required.

As well, a spill report from mine operator Capstone Mining for the Yukon Water Board shows what happened and what was done to deal with the problems.

“The excavator operator was relocating a large boulder from the loading area of blast 721-16 in Area 2 Pit when the excavator became unbalanced and laid over on its left side,” reads the report.

When the excavator hit the ground, the cap to the fuel tank came off, spilling the liquid.

“The fuel cap was found after the incident, and upon inspection, there were no issues – such as wear and tear – found with the fuel cap,” notes the report.

“The excavator had been filled with approximately 1,200 litres of fuel at 16:00 (4 p.m.). The direct cause of the spill was directly related to the impact force of the 120-tonne excavator when it laid down on its left side and the volume of fuel in the tank which forced the fuel cap from the fuel filler spout.

“It should be noted that the root cause of the excavator laying over was human error.”

The report goes on to state spill pads were placed on the ground as soon as it was safe to do so.

The pads remained there overnight to absorb the diesel, covering the entire area.

On Dec. 18, the pads were collected and disposed of, with more pads being put down once the heavy equipment was put back on its tracks.

“Gator (an oil absorbent) was applied to the ground surface once the excavator was moved from the spill area,” the report continues.

The site was blasted four days after the spill, with the rock from the area crushed and processed as ore while some of the rock was left and used to build a ramp.

“No material from the spill site was placed in a rock dump at the site,” it’s stated.

A further section on corrective actions in the report goes on to state that Pelly Construction (contracted for work at the mine) will review the incident and safety with all employees as well as reviewing and making any necessary changes or additions to the “oversize boulders to excavator safe work procedure.”

Reports on those are due Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, officials with the mine will be reviewing its blast design/drill and blast protocol, with that report due Jan. 31.