Alaska officials say about 45,000 gallons of cyanide water solution spilled at the Fort Knox Gold Mine near Fairbanks after a bulldozer damaged a buried pipeline.
State Environmental Conservation Department spokesman Ty Keltner says a heavy equipment operator discovered the spill Thursday night and the mine quickly reported it to the state.
Keltner says some of the cyanide water solution was released onto a gravel mine road while much of it went into a lined area where leaching takes place.
The state says a raised berm has been created around the spill area to keep the solution from spreading. Contaminated soil has been loaded into dump trucks and moved to an area for processing.
State officials are monitoring the cleanup.
Fort Knox is located 26 miles northeast of Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says the mine is owned by Kinross Gold Corp.
