The Yukon government ordered the Minto Mine earlier this week to seek another emergency amendement to discharge more water from its mine site - in the middle of the chinook salmon run.

The mine needs to discharge more water, or the consequences could be serious, says Stephen Quin, the president of Capstone Mining Corp.

Quin said the company now has the ability to have another controlled discharge above the amounts allowed for in its water licence that will not harm the environment, just as it has done over the last month after seeking an emergency amendment in June.

But if water levels keep building and building, the mine could find itself in a crisis situation of spilling untreated water, he suggested.

The Yukon Territorty Water Board convened a special meeting at 11 a.m. today to hear submissions into Thursday's application for an emergency amendment allowing it to exceed its water licence limits for volumes and mineral content.

Lewis Rifkind of the Yukon Conservation Society said this morning this appears not to be an environmental emergency but an economic emergency driven by the company's financial need to get back into the open pit and begin mining.

It's odd, he said, that the process to seek another emergency order is being kickstarted by the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, particularly since there has been water in the open pit for months.

Capstone has not been actively mining since the spring runoff flooded the main pit, and has been processing its stock pile.

Quin dismissed the society's suggestion the situation does not constitute a serious situation that requires immediate action.

Despite an initial emergency amendment to its water licence issued in late June, the company has not been able to make enough room in its water storage pond or empty its main pit of overflow, he explained.

Quin said Minto is running out of room, and there's a chance there could be an uncontrolled discharge of effluent that does not meet Canadian standards for acceptable levels of solids and trace metals if there is an influx of water.

The discharge being proposed, he pointed out, would meet the national federal standards, but not the requirements of the Minto Mine's site-specific water licence. There are also methods to reduce any chance of erosion in Minto Creek or impact on migrating salmon which might occur as a result of the increase in volume, he said.

Rifkind, on the other hand, suggested there surely could be another week or two to give experts at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada more time to conduct an analysis of what's been proposed.

After all, he said, the company is proposing a huge increase in the volume of discharge during the peak of the chinook salmon run, and Minto Creek is a salmon rearing watershed.

The company applied in late June for an emergency amendment to spill an additional 750,000 cubic metres over a period of 45 days, at 20,000 cubic metres per day. It was given permission to release 300,000 c/m at 10,000 c/m per day. The Whitehorse Lions Aquatic Centre at the Canada Games Centre hold approximately 1,000 cubic metres.

Capstone is currently asking the board for permission to release an additonal 750,000 c/m, between now and Oct. 1, at a rate of 25,000 c/m per day - 25 swimming pools a day.

In the Yukon government order for Minto Mines to seek another emergency amendment, mining inspector Robert Holmes expresses concern about the stability of the open pit and the company's continuing ability to reach the ore body, Rifkind said.

Holmes writes that allowing the pit to remain flooded would threaten the structural integrity of the pit walls, and could force a temporary or permanent closure of the mine.

Issues around a sudden closure would involve implications for "care and maintenance, environmental management, financial security and other issues that could pose potential dangers to the environment," says Holmes' four-page order for Minto to seek another emergency amendment.

Asked why the concern over the integrity of the pit was all of a sudden a concern when it's been flooded for more than three months, government spokesman Chris Wearmouth said this morning the government is not commenting because the matter is before the water board.

Quin said he suspects the order comes now because the situation is not getting any better, despite efforts over the last month by the Minto Mine to get is water management under control.

There is little room now to handle an influx of rain, and if the mine is not able to empty the pit before freeze up, it could run into next spring's melt with very little room for runoff, Quin said.

The Capstone president said for whatever reason, the original science behind the application for a water licence in the early 1990s - before the project fell into dormancy for almost a decade - is not reflecting the

conditions today.

Based on the original studies supporting the water licence, Quin pointed out, the company was afraid it wouldn't have enough water to operate the mine.

But very early on - before if officially began production two years ago - the company learned water management was going to be an issue, and has since been doing the necessary work to support its current application for a new water licence, he said.

Quin said the proposal for a water management plan will reflect the conditions at the mine site much more closely, and allow for much greater control over water management.

The conservation society's mining critic suggested that one has has to wonder about the licensing process today if this type of miscalculation can still go on.