Protest concert in Carmacks, Yukon, calls for a ban on heap leaching [Video]

First Nations across the Yukon are coming together in support of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun following the Eagle Gold mining disaster. 

On Aug, 24, crowds from across the Yukon gathered in Carmacks for a concert series — called Cyanide in the Water —in support of the First Nation, and to protest heap leach mining facilities in the territory. 

The idea for a concert came to Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation Chief Nicole Tom in the weeks following the heap leach failure on June 24, which saw hundreds of millions of litres of cyanide-contaminated solution escape containment at the mine site.

She says the event created “massive heartache” for many Northern Tutchone. 

Little Salmon Carmacks was already dealing with escalating concerns over its own local cyanide leaks at the Mount Nansen mine site, abandoned since 1999. 

“I feel that we are making the same mistakes and not doing anything to rectify the …