An Ontario-based company has been awarded the contract to take over care and maintenance of the Faro mine next year.

Denison Environmental Services will be paid approximately $7.2 million a year to do the work over a period of three years.

Deloitte and Touche Inc. has been managing the care and maintenance and other work at the mine site since it was appointed in 1998 by the Yukon Supreme Court as interim receiver.

The company indicated to the court some time ago that it wished to be released from its obligations at the Faro mine.

While Denison will officially take over its responsibilities next March, it will soon begin working with Deloitte and Touche to familiarize itself with the project, Marg Crombie, the Yukon government's director of abandoned mine sites, explained Monday.

"We have an eight-month transition period to make sure that they get the full technical knowledge from Deloitte and Touche to ensure we have a smooth transfer," she said.

The government began searching for a new care and maintenance company last year when it sent out a call for companies to submit their qualifications.

Of the nine responses received, Denison and Alexco Resources Corp. were the only two invited to submit proposals.

Crombie said an evaluation committee selected Denison's proposal over Alexco's, and negotiations to finalize the contract have been going on for about two months.

The contract with Denison was based on current care and maintenance costs which include a summer seasonal staff of between 30 and 35 and eight through the winter months, Crombie said.

Monday's announcement was made jointly by new Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Brad Cathers and federal Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

"This contract is a significant step in our progress to long-term remediation at the Faro Mine Complex," Cathers said in Monday's press release.

Denison Environmental Services, based on Elliot Lake, Ont., has extensive experience with care and maintenance activities at a number of closed mine sites.

Ottawa declared the Faro mine abandoned after Anvil Range Mining Corp. ceased production in February 1998 because of financial problems.

Efforts to develop a plan to close and reclaim the lead-zinc operation have been ongoing for the last several years.

Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill to care for the mine site and develop the plan, which this year alone is costing about $16 million.

Ottawa is footing the bill, as the mine was permitted by the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs while it was still responsible for managing the territory's land and resources prior to April 1, 2003.

It's estimated the total cost of reclamation to Canadians will run between $500 million and $1 billion over several decades, depending on what option is selected.

Crombie said officials are hoping to finalize the reclamation plan late this fall, in time to make a submission by next February to the federal government and the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.

It's difficult to say how long it will take to conduct a full review of the reclamation proposal but the current schedule calls for the actual work to begin in 2012, Crombie explained.

The abandoned mine includes three large open pits, a massive tailings area, and several waste rock dump sites.

It's expected water treatment will be required for at least 500 years.

The Faro mine began production in 1969, and was the sweetheart of the Yukon economy through the 1970s as Canada's largest lead-zinc mine.

The first in a series of closures came in 1982 amid an economic recession.