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A newborn muskoxen got a new lease on life thanks to work by the Gahcho Kué Mine team.
The calf, with its umbilical cord still attached, was discovered on the mine site near Lake N11 on May 5 when employees from Site Services went out to repair a water pipeline. Following their training for interaction with wildlife, the employees stopped all work in the area, cordoned off the road and called in the Environment department. Lake N11 is located about 2 km northwest of the active mining area and the pipeline is used to transfer water into Kennady Lake to ensure sufficient flow to support downstream aquatic life.
Using a drone, the muskox herd was located approximately 2.5 km northeast of the mine site. It is not known how the calf became separated from its family group, but wolf and grizzly bear tracks have been noted in the area.
Mine staff worked closely with the Government of the Northwest Territories’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) on how to manage the situation. Ni Hadi Xa, the cooperative environmental monitoring agency between the mine and six local Indigenous Communities, was also consulted.
Hoping the calf and herd would rejoin naturally, the animal was left alone until the next day.
When it was still by itself on May 6, ENR granted permission to attempt to relocate the calf back to the herd, which was now about 30 km from the mine site. Members of the Gahcho Kué Environment team bundled up the calf in a toboggan and transported it to the herd via snowmobile. After three attempts, a muskox cow approached and licked the calf, which then joined the rest of the herd, which included two other calves, on their journey west.
“The experience was incredibly rewarding for all those involved,” said Mason Elwood, Environmental Officer at the mine. “Everyone did an excellent job, allowing us to successfully and safely reintroduce this calf back into a herd with nursing cows, giving it the best possible odds of survival.”
About 100,000 muskox live in Canada’s Arctic, and herds are regularly seen around the Gahcho Kué Mine site. The animals resemble bison but are more closely related to sheep and goats. Adult male muskox can weight up to 300 kg. Their woolly hair, called qiviut, is stronger than sheep’s wool and is eight times warmer, and finer than cashmere. It is prized by Indigenous people for making a variety of warm clothing.
Gahcho Kué Mine is located about 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The mine is a joint venture between De Beers Canada (51% - the operator) and Mountain Province Diamonds (49%).