The Colomac Mine was a privately owned and operated open pit gold mine located 220 km northwest of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories in Canada . The Colomac mine operated between 1990–1992, and 1994–1997. It was operated by Neptune Resources Limited that had little success in making a profit during its operation. In 1994, the mine had reopened under Royal Oak Mines Inc. Both Neptune Resources and Royal Oak Mines where both owned and operated by Peggy Witte. Due to low gold prices and high cost of mining, Royal Oak Mines was forced into bankruptcy. The Federal Government of Canada became owners of the mine, along with the related environmental issues. A major cleanup effort is under way to prevent the mine from polluting the environment, but this might be too late at this stage.