The company behind the Minto copper mine in the Yukon says it hopes a new water treatment system will end a series of water-related emergencies the mine experienced earlier this year.

Capstone Mining Corp. has had six emergency amendments made to its water licence for the mine, allowing it to discharge runoff and waste water into nearby waterways.

Most recently, Yukon environmental inspectors ordered Capstone earlier this summer to dump about 750,000 cubic metres of water into Minto Creek and the Yukon River, because the wall of one of its water storage pits was partially collapsing due to melting permafrost.

The emergency situations sparked environmental advocates to call for the mine to be closed until its wastewater system is fixed.

But Capstone president Stephen Quin said it has hired BioteQ Inc., a Vancouver-based environmental technology firm, to build and operate a facility that will treat 4,000 cubic metres a water a day.

BioteQ is guaranteeing that water coming out of the Minto mine will meet environmental standards, Quin said.

"Our original water licence says that, you know, if the water level exceeds discharge standards you will put a water treatment plant in to handle it. So essentially that's what we are doing," Quin told CBC News on Thursday.

"One of the approaches we're taking is to put in a larger water treatment plant that can handle significantly larger quantities of water, with the aim to treat any water that comes in and be able to discharge it."

The Yukon Conservation Society is currently reviewing the plans for Minto's water treatment system.

But Lewis Rifkind, the society's mining co-ordinator, said mine officials should be taking a long look at its overall water handling plan before approving any more piecemeal changes.