Williams Lake, B.C.- It has been nearly  4 months since  the tailings  pond breach at  the Mount Polley Mine near  Likely sent 17 million cubic meters of water and 8 million cubic metres  of tailings down Hazeltine Creek into  Quesnel Lake.

“Make no mistake, full remediation of the area is going to be a matter of years, not months” says Minister of Environment  Mary Polak.

She says several components  of the first phase of remediation have already been done, including:

• installation of a silt fence  at the mouth of Hazeltine Creek,
• re- contouring,
• flow diversion,
• Polley Lake outlet flow control and

Polak says while  much progress has been made,  a letter was sent to the  company last Friday outlining a number of actions  which must be taken in the short term including a  human  health  risk assessment.  She says the most urgent work right now is preparing for the spring freshet. Ministry technical expert on the Mount Polley  Mine breach, Hubert Bunz says the  company is “Aggressively looking at  repairing the breached area  so it can be able to hold back the  flow from the spring freshet.  They’re looking at a  cement cut off wall, or a new berm . They are currently in talks with the Ministry of Mines to have  those measures  installed.”

Phase two of the long-term plan covers the timeframe from July 2015 to August 2016, and focuses on remediating the impacts of the breach.
When asked  if  she could rate, on a scale of 1- 100, where the remediation  efforts  on the area  are at this point,  Polak said it was 1.5 “We are at the very, very beginning of this, and it will take years.”

The cause of the breach is still unknown. There are  three separate investigations underway to try and determine the cause of the breach.  A report on  the review of conditions of other tailings ponds  in  B.C.   is expected to be released in January.