The recommendations coming out of a health impact assessment on mining near Keno City are not enough for at least one local resident and business owner in the community.

"Mitigations here are pointless,” Jim Millie, who first came to the area in 1974 and now owns the Sourdough Café, said in an interview today.

He spoke to the Star following a government press conference on the release of the Health Impact Assessment of Mining Activities near Keno City.

Millie is among many of the residents of the area who has brought forward concerns about the mounting mining activity of Alexco Resources with its Bellekeno mine, which began production in 2011, and proposals to expand into two more areas nearby.

Regardless of what's done to mitigate any potential health issues, Millie said, "It's too little, too late.

"You can't go back,” he said.

The increased noise, changes to the water and so on are already taking their toll on the community, he said, with some residents already leaving town.

For Millie, moving from the community would mean completely starting over after putting so much into his business.

"My investment here is totally under threat,” he said.

This past summer, Millie heard from many staying at the local campground who, after a night of dealing with noise from the nearby ore roads, said if they return next year, it will only be for a day trip ­– and they'll choose to stay elsewhere.

A couple more seasons like that and Millie believes tourism there will suffer even more.

Millie noted that with mining returning to the region, this could have been "Keno's heyday.”

It could have brought improved roads to the region and could have served as the "gateway to the Peel” – had the Peel watershed been given some sort of park status.

However, by allowing milling to be done in Keno rather than Elsa, where it had happened during the operation of United Keno Hill Mine, tourism is suffering. The 20 or so permanent residents are also feeling the impacts in the increased noise, changes to water and so on, Millie said.

"There have been impacts to our water,” Millie added, taking issue with the assessment using information provided primarily form Alexco.

During this morning's press conference, Brendan Hanley, the Yukon's chief medical officer of health, said the assessment was done using existing information to look at any possible health issues as well as identify where there may be gaps in the information.

"It's certainly been a major change for the community,” Hanley said of the mining activity.

It's evident Keno has undergone stresses, he noted, and there is a range of opinions within the area about the new mining activity.

While the area's water supply continues to be well within Canada's drinking water guidelines and there appears to be no immediate threat to residents, more monitoring is suggested.

Though Alexco only began commercial production with Bellekeno last year, the Keno area is in a silver district.

It has historically been a mining area, with its most productive era between 1921 and 1988, when more than 217 million ounces of silver was produced. The ore was milled in Elsa.

Due to falling silver prices in early 1989, the mines in the area closed, with the federal government inheriting the abandoned mines. Then in 2005, Alexco bought reclamation and mineral extraction rights from the federal government.

With more and more concerns about the mining coming forward, Hanley requested the health impact assessment be done earlier this year by an independent third party.

Habitat Health Impact Consulting of Calgary did the assessment, which was released to residents of Keno last week. A meeting with the residents was held Tuesday, with six locals turning up for the meeting.

A working group of government officials from various departments has been formed to look at the recommendations and how to move forward.

While Alexco has also been provided with a copy of the assessment, it has yet to respond. Officials with the company could not be reached by deadline today.

The key recommendations outlined in a summary are:

• Air quality monitoring should be expanded to address all sources of dust generated at the mining site and along the transportation routes to and from the site. It should also be expanded to include two types of particles called PM10 and PM2.5;

• In addition to dust control measures already underway or listed in Alexco's expansion proposal, mitigation measures such as covering crushers and haul trucks along with using wind screens should be done to control dust from roads, materials being transported, construction and operating facilities;

• The territory's Department of Health and Social Services, in consultation with the Keno community, should continue developing a "comprehensive water management strategy” that will identify a single source of water (likely the well at the fire hall) and a backup source, provide for active monitoring of well sources with public reporting of the information and interpretation of the results at least every three months, actively discourage the use of any other well in the community and also discourage the use of collected surface water for water gardens or other "human” uses;

• Any siting of future or permanent noise monitors should take into consideration the new Keno City bypass road and the 990 portal with expansion of use of the bypass road avoided;

• All operators in the area should use the current best practised strategies for reducing noise, including covering the crusher, restrictions on air brake use, time restrictions on hauling and explosives, proper vehicle maintenance and a switch from backup beepers to broadband warning systems;

• A community consultation and complaint resolution system be developed where residents' concerns would be documented and operators in the area would be required to follow up and resolve the issues;

• All employers should operate vans or buses to get their staff to and from camp and the work site;

• All operators should develop plans for initial response, triage, communication and transportation of casualties in the event of medical emergencies.

The plans would be developed with nursing staff and ambulance services in Mayo.

Emergency Medical Services could provide a central co-ordination role in any cases of major injuries or multiple casualties.

Site-specific emergency plans also need to be co-ordinated and communicated with local providers, air ambulance service and the Emergency Measures Organization; and

• In addition to the regulations already in place around health, best practices should also be followed on STI education and prevention, proper hand-washing signs and stations in common areas at the workplace and camp, and the annual flu vaccine for residents of the camp.

The government is continuing to accept public input on the report.

Comments can be emailed to violet.vanhees@gov.yk.ca.