The schedules to decide what will be done with the abandoned Faro and Mount Nansen mines are winding down, says the director of the Yukon's branch for abandoned mines.

Stephen Mead said last week the goal for Mount Nansen is to select an option for some form of permanent closure by the end of this year, take two years to complete the regulatory process, and begin implementation of the plan toward the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

It's expected it will cost federal taxpayers somewhere between $10 million and $20 million to complete the closure work over two to three years, he said.

"Much like we are doing with Faro, we have to sit down with the federal government, the first nations and ourselves to come up with a consensus on what is the best option."

Mead said there are three broad options. They range from a walk-away option to one that would require some form of regular monitoring of the site, from every three months to once a year.

AECOM, an international firm which provides environmental expertise, is being retained to check the work that has gone into developing the options, to see if it's sound and sufficient.

Mead said a contract with AECOM is being drawn up, and the company is expected to deliver its technical analysis of the information by the end of March.

Taxpayers have been looking after the Mount Nansen gold mine since 1999, when BYG Natural Resources abandoned the site and walked into bankruptcy, after a short mine life.

Baby-sitting costs are currently running at $675,000 a year, in addition to the $1.5 million budgeted in this fiscal year alone to plan for the closure.

While the Yukon government administers the Mount Nansen project, Ottawa foots the bill, as the mine was permitted by the federal government when Ottawa was still responsible for mining in the territory. That responsibility was transferred to the Yukon government on April 1, 2003.

It's expected the final closure option for the abandoned Faro mine could be selected in the next month, Mead said.

Estimates for the Faro project have ranged from $400 million to $1 billion, over several decades.

None of the plans, however, includes a walk-away option. It's long been accepted that management of the site and its three open pits will require regular monitoring until the end of time.

Federal taxpayers have spent tens of millions of dollars in the last decade looking after the mine and planning for its closure. Operations ceased 11 years ago next month.

Mead explained the Mount Nansen project, though on a much smaller scale than Faro, has gone through a similar process of examining options and gathering supporting evidence.

Once AECOM delivers its report in March and the package of technical information is deemed complete, the material still have to go through a peer review by independent experts.

In the meantime, Mead's branch for abandoned mines has cancelled the tender to remove the mill from the Mount Nansen site as part of the ongoing reclamation work.

Estimated at $750,000, removal of the mill was cancelled after the tender closed, because an updated risk assessment was beginning to indicate more water treatment may be required at the site, Mead explained.

He said at least one of three contractors has met with him to express his annoyance about the decision to cancel the work after asking companies to submit proposals, and only after the tender closed.

The mill will come down eventually, but a combination of new information suggested keeping it in case water treatment is needed would be a wise move, he said.

Mead explained the mill was converted and used as a treatment facility up until 2005, when treatment of water in the tailings pond was no longer required.

The chemistry of the water in the pond is again changing, however, and further treatment may be needed before the closure plan is completed, he said.

Mead said it was also pointed out recently that water in the open pit dug by BYG may have to be removed to allow for a thorough investigation of the pit's structure, to determine its suitability for long-term water storage.

If the water has to come out, he noted, it will have to be treated before its release into the natural water course, which eventually flows into the Yukon River.

"If you are not sure you are going to need something or not, it's probably best to leave it there," said Mead.

The mill has heat, power, lights, and all that would be required for a water treatment facility, Mead pointed out.