Latest news with #cyanide
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Receiver planning sale of Yukon gold mine involved in contaminant release disaster
Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine site north of Mayo, Y.T., is shown in this handout aerial photo taken Wednesday, July 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO — Yukon Government The court-appointed receiver of a Yukon gold mine that suffered a catastrophic heap-leach facility failure last year said it plans to sell the mine and will be seeking approval within the week to start the process. In its fifth receiver's report issued earlier this month, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. said it will seek court approval for a sale process for the Eagle Gold Mine near Mayo, Yukon, in a motion scheduled to be heard Wednesday in an Ontario court. Eagle Gold Mine was the site last June where a containment failure at the heap-leach facility released about two-million tonnes of cyanide-laced ore and water into the environment. 'The Yukon Government in its capacity as receivership lender …, the lending syndicate and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun were consulted in the development of the Eagle Mine sale process, and each provided feedback to the Receiver,' PricewaterhouseCoopers said in its latest report summary, adding each submission was 'carefully considered' in finalizing the proposed sale process. 'The Receivership Lender (the Yukon government) has confirmed that it is satisfied with the form and substance of the proposed Eagle Mine sale process and supports the approval of the sale process at this time.' In an email, the territory's government confirmed the receiver is planning to begin a sale process by July for the Eagle Gold Mine, if it were to be approved by the court. But the territory also said it is 'premature to say what the process will look like,' stating that it will likely be 'robust, transparent and fair' since it is subject to court supervision. 'The Government of Yukon is a key stakeholder as the main mining regulator and lender to the Receiver, and it will ensure that the interests of Yukoners are protected and communicated to the Receiver,' the government's statement said. 'Right now, the focus of the government and the Receiver is to address environmental remediation and site safety.' The Yukon government said earlier this month that the work is continuing at the mine site to manage additional water from the spring snowmelt, while water contaminated from the failure is being treated and discharged. PricewaterhouseCoopers was made receiver of the mine last year by an Ontario court through an application by the Yukon government. The proposed sale process timeline listed in the latest receiver's report said the plan is for an initial bid deadline of Aug. 6, with the deadline for selecting qualified bids on Aug. 20. The process would then move to its second phase, where due diligence on qualified bidders would be completed by Oct. 15, with a selection of the successful bid for the mine on Nov. 5 and closing on Dec. 31, pending court approval. The Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation did not respond to requests for comment on the proposed sale process of the Eagle Mine, which is located on the nation's traditional territory. The development with the Eagle Mine comes days after another nearby Yukon mine site was sold to the Selkirk First Nation. In a statement, the nation — located about 120 kilometres south of Mayo and 280 kilometres north of Whitehorse — said it completed the acquisition of the former Minto Mine site located on its traditional territory on June 18. Chief Sharon Nelson said of the purchase that the act is 'self-determination in action' and allows the nation to 'move forward deliberately and on our own terms' with the mine's future. 'Going forward, we will be guided by our responsibilities to protect the land, promote economic self-reliance, and ensure that any opportunities will benefit our people and our community,' Nelson said in her statement. The Selkirk First Nation said it plans to conduct feasibility studies on the site to determine long-term options, and it is possible that the mine could 'develop into an economic stimulant' for both the community and Yukon. The nation also said mine ownership paves the way for the Indigenous community to operate it 'in ways that reflect First Nation values and priorities.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2025. Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
A Wisconsin couple have been charged in a plot to kill two women with cyanide, and several investigators tracking the pair were hospitalized after coming into contact with the poison, according to prosecutors and reports. Paul VanDuyne and Andrea Whitaker are accused of creating poisons and using them in an elaborate attempt to murder two different women who were ex-girlfriend's of VanDuyne, according to the Wisconsin Justice Department. Prosecutors allege VanDuyne broke into a woman's car in a Middleton Costco parking lot last month and contaminated her water bottle with cyanide. She found people outside her car telling her that the car had been tampered with, although she didn't find anything wrong at the time, Fox 47 reported. She did find the water tasted funny, the outlet reported. Chiropractor Accused Of Poisoning Wife With Lead During Divorce Now Claims He Was A Victim Too: Report Two weeks later, the same thing is alleged to have happened again. This time, the woman brought the bottle to the police, who tested it and confirmed it contained cyanide. Around the same time, another woman in Rock County was hospitalized after drinking cyanide-tainted water found in her car after a gym visit. Read On The Fox News App Both alleged victims briefly dated VanDuyne, prosecutors said. Alabama Chiropractor Charged After Allegedly Attempting To Poison Wife With Lead-laced Pills VanDuyne was arrested Sunday after the hazmat-linked investigations and after authorities caught him allegedly trying to help cover up evidence. Police had been monitoring VanDuyne but were forced to move quickly when he tried to contact the Rock County woman last weekend. He was arrested and booked Sunday. While in jail, VanDuyne called Whitaker and asked her to remove items from his house, prosecutors said. Agents intercepted her leaving with her belongings. When searching her phone, they found multiple messages between the couple discussing different poisons. Prosecutors believe the pair were planning to murder VanDuyne's ex-girlfriends with poison. At least seven state investigators on the case have been hospitalized for possible exposure to the poison, reported. The outlet reported that Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown revealed Whitaker's online history included searches for "Does potassium cyanide cloud water?" and "Sodium cyanide odor, sodium cyanide." Searches also included "What does cyanide look like?" and "Cyanide lethal," he said. VanDuyne and Whitaker face charges in Rock County of attempted homicide, aggravated battery, reckless endangerment and stalking — all involving a dangerous weapon. In Dane County, VanDuyne faces more charges for attempted homicide and stalking, while Whitaker is also accused of helping him and trying to cover it up. Seven agencies were involved in the investigation, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation, the Rock County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the article source: Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
Fox News
a day ago
- Fox News
Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
A Wisconsin couple have been charged in a plot to kill two women with cyanide, and several investigators tracking the pair were hospitalized after coming into contact with the poison, according to prosecutors and reports. Paul VanDuyne and Andrea Whitaker are accused of creating poisons and using them in an elaborate attempt to murder two different women who were ex-girlfriend's of VanDuyne, according to the Wisconsin Justice Department. Prosecutors allege VanDuyne broke into a woman's car in a Middleton Costco parking lot last month and contaminated her water bottle with cyanide. She found people outside her car telling her that the car had been tampered with, although she didn't find anything wrong at the time, Fox 47 reported. She did find the water tasted funny, the outlet reported. Two weeks later, the same thing is alleged to have happened again. This time, the woman brought the bottle to the police, who tested it and confirmed it contained cyanide. Around the same time, another woman in Rock County was hospitalized after drinking cyanide-tainted water found in her car after a gym visit. Both alleged victims briefly dated VanDuyne, prosecutors said. VanDuyne was arrested Sunday after the hazmat-linked investigations and after authorities caught him allegedly trying to help cover up evidence. Police had been monitoring VanDuyne but were forced to move quickly when he tried to contact the Rock County woman last weekend. He was arrested and booked Sunday. While in jail, VanDuyne called Whitaker and asked her to remove items from his house, prosecutors said. Agents intercepted her leaving with her belongings. When searching her phone, they found multiple messages between the couple discussing different poisons. Prosecutors believe the pair were planning to murder VanDuyne's ex-girlfriends with poison. At least seven state investigators on the case have been hospitalized for possible exposure to the poison, reported. The outlet reported that Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown revealed Whitaker's online history included searches for "Does potassium cyanide cloud water?" and "Sodium cyanide odor, sodium cyanide." Searches also included "What does cyanide look like?" and "Cyanide lethal," he said. VanDuyne and Whitaker face charges in Rock County of attempted homicide, aggravated battery, reckless endangerment and stalking — all involving a dangerous weapon. In Dane County, VanDuyne faces more charges for attempted homicide and stalking, while Whitaker is also accused of helping him and trying to cover it up. Seven agencies were involved in the investigation, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation, the Rock County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the FBI.
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Search for gold to offset cost of disaster at Yukon mine, government says
Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine site north of Mayo, Y.T., is shown in this handout aerial photo taken Wednesday, July 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO — Yukon Government WHITEHORSE — A court-appointed receiver plans to start sifting for gold in cyanide-laced water stored at the Eagle Gold Mine in Yukon. The Yukon government says proceeds will be used to help pay for some of the cleanup after a disaster at the mine a year ago. The failure of the mine's heap-leach facility, which contained millions of tonnes of cyanide-laced ore and water, set off the disaster and subsequent takeover by the receiver. A statement from the territory says the gold being recovered is found within cyanide water stored in ponds at the mine site and the process will also destroy some cyanide, helping treat the contaminated water. It says work continues at the gold mine to manage a large amount of additional water from the spring snowmelt, and contaminated water is being treated and discharged. The government says it's too early to say what the value of the gold being recovered might be but the receiver will report those results in further reports to the court. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2025.
News.com.au
09-06-2025
- News.com.au
‘Smiling coffee killer' Jessica Wongso appears in eerie new interview
Indonesian convicted murderer and Australian permanent resident Jessica Kumala Wongso has appeared in a shocking new documentary. In it, she was dubbed the 'smiling iced coffee killer' and accused of 'brazenly' murdering her friend and fellow Indonesian Wayan Mirna Salihin in a glitzy cafe in Jakarta in 2016. The new documentary entitled Chilling interview: Why Jessica Wongso murdered her best friend with poisoned coffee, aired on 7News Spotlight and has already racked up over two million views. According to the documentary, Wongso, who is currently on parole, 'still hasn't got her story straight' – despite having spent eight years in an Indonesian prison for the murder. Wongso was found guilty in 2016 by a Jakarta court of adding cyanide to an iced Vietnamese coffee that she bought for her friend Salihin, causing her to collapse and convulse in front of horrified patrons at the cafe. Salihin, who was just 27-years-old, was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, and the Indonesian prosecution alleged that Wongso, who had previously studied at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney with Salihin, had been jealous of her friend who had just got married. Wongso has always denied the charges against her, and pleaded innocent at her trial, before she was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was released on parole last year having served just eight years of her sentence – and is currently filing a final appeal in a last-ditch bid to clear her name. During the 44 minute sit-down, Spotlight journalist Liam Bartlett asked Wongso a series of tough questions about the murder, appearing both disappointed and shocked by some of her answers, including that Wongso and Salihin 'were not close at all' and were only acquaintances because they 'came from the same country.' Simon Butt, a professor of Indonesian law at the University of Sydney, told that the language used in the interview and its largely unsympathetic portrayal of Wongso was likely due to her ongoing legal status as a convicted murderer. 'Of course, legally, a programme like this can proceed on the assumption that she was guilty of the murder. She was found to be so by successive Indonesian courts,' he said. Yet he added that the documentary had a missed opportunity to shed greater light on her case, which gripped Indonesia back in 2016 and prompted widespread speculation by the public about Wongso's possible guilt or innocence. 'The intriguing part of her story is that, despite her conviction, there remains very strong doubts about whether she did in fact kill her friend,' Butt said. Butt argued that the Spotlight interview did not fully explain some of the nuances of Wongso's case. 'The programme was one-sided, swallowing the very problematic decision, and appeals, whole. 'The programme did not mention very problematic aspects of her conviction, including that no autopsy was conducted and there were serious problems with the handling of the coffee sample from the cafe. 'There was no cyanide found at the scene. Whether Salihin died of cyanide poisoning, and even whether the coffee itself had cyanide in it was, in my view, never established beyond reasonable doubt.' Butt added that, as Wongso's defence lawyers continually stated, Sahilin could have died of natural causes, but the lack of a full and comprehensive autopsy means that this has never been fully established. 'These issues were not pursued in the programme,' he added. 'That said, Wongso didn't help herself by agreeing to the interview before her final appeal has been concluded.' Under Indonesian law, a judicial review is usually only successful if there is compelling new evidence presented in a case that was not previously heard at the original trial. Another one of the main issues with the Spotlight interview was the fact that Wongso repeatedly refused to answer or elaborate on questions put to her by Bartlett – and did not appear to emphatically deny guilt. Butt said however that Wongso told Bartlett that she could not protest her innocence as she remains on parole until 2032. 'If she did that, her parole might be revoked. Yet the journalist continually asked her to explain the way she acted and reacted at various times, including during her trial, and obviously drew implications from her failure to defend herself in her answers,' Butt said. 'He put her in an impossible situation, over and over, asking her questions that an innocent person would be able to answer, and then appearing suspicious that her responses were strange or evasive.' One example was when Wongso was asked why she contacted Salihn's sister with a press story about the coffee poisoning and asked about the results of toxicology tests. 'He obviously thought this was somehow suspicious,' Butt said. 'But if she did kill Salihin, one would not expect her to reveal the way she did it, especially considering police did not initially treat it as a murder. She could not make these points in the interview because she could not claim innocence.' A spokesperson for Spotlight told that they refute Butt's claims and added their interview was fair and balanced. 'While we respect Professor Butt's right to an opinion, he appears to have confused our program with the Netflix documentary,' a spokesperon said. 'Our interview with convicted killer Jessica Wongso was thorough, comprehensive, and entirely balanced – covering all key aspects of the case. 'Jessica agreed to the interview on the advice of her own legal team, and we offered her lawyer to remain in the room for the duration of questioning. 'On no occasion did Jessica complain or indicate in any way, either during or following the interview, that we had placed her, as the Professor puts it, in an 'impossible situation'.' Ranto Sibarani, a lawyer based in the city of Medan in Indonesia, said that people needed to look at the facts of the case rather than conjecture. 'It is quite clear based on the evidence and the verdict of the three judges that Jessica was found guilty of murdering Mirna using cyanide,' Mr Sibarani said. 'She has also shown herself to be extremely clever, as no one has been able to find the cyanide that she used, or the trousers that she was wearing at the time, which she admitted she threw away. 'Many people were suspicious of Wongso rubbing her hands on her trousers after Salihin collapsed in the coffee shop, all of which was caught on CCTV. 'Some suspected that cyanide residue on her hands was causing them to itch although, in the new documentary, Wongso denied this. 'She said instead that she had asked her helper to throw the trousers away as they had a rip in them which could not be repaired.' Talking of the new documentary, Sibarani said that he would never advise a client to speak to the media before all their legal appeals were exhausted. 'Particularly not one where they criticised the sentence or the legal proceedings,' he said.
