"Here today, gone to Mayo": an emotional geography of the Keno Hill silver mines

Winton, Alexandra (2020) "Here today, gone to Mayo": an emotional geography of the Keno Hill silver mines. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Nestled high in the sub-arctic mountains of the Central Yukon Territory, the Keno Hill silver mines have closed and opened their doors three times in the past three decades. From a sudden closure in 1989, to a short-lived redevelopment in 2012, to a possible re-reopening in 2020, the mine site is emblematic of the cyclical nature of mining in the Canadian North. Within a framework of emotional and spectre geography, this thesis explores the lives of the people who live in the nearby communities of Keno City and Mayo, including the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun. While many of these people have depended on the mines for their economic livelihood, the redevelopment of the mines proved both beneficial and detrimental to their way of life and their economic, social and environmental well-being. Using oral history and Indigenous methodology, I share the stories of long-time residents of the region, delving into the emotional impacts of mine closure and redevelopment. I suggest that these historic emotions did not dissipate, but instead hung like a spectre over the mine site, continuing to influence residents’ opinions regarding new mineral developments. Indeed, the Keno Hill case demonstrates that emotional invalidation has serious, long-lasting consequences for all parties involved in mineral (re)development, and, if ignored, negative emotions can cast a long shadow that haunts lands and communities, easily evoked by new or redevelopments and requiring remediation in the same way as the land.

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