The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Victoria Gold chief executive officer John McConnell says he regrets staying silent while the company was in crisis, and suspects June's catastrophic cyanide spill at its Yukon mine was caused by an uncontrolled buildup of fluid. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that four million tonnes of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed at the outdoor heap-leaching pond on June 24 and half of that spilled into the local environment beyond the company's containment zone. The scale of the environmental damage is unknown, but the local first nation fears the spill could devastate salmon fisheries, hunting grounds and groundwater. Victoria Gold on Wednesday was put into receivership after an Ontario judge ruled the company will not be able to finance the remediation of the site, which is now expected to cost up to $150-million. Victoria Gold sometimes went several weeks without issuing updates. Mr. O'Connell said his lawyers had advised him to stay silent, but now admits that was a mistake. "Their advice was, 'Say nothing, say nothing, say nothing.' And that's not my style. So, I regret that I wasn't out there talking to more people and getting our message out about what our plans were."