Province Gives Mt. Polley Re-Start Permission
Williams Lake, B.C. – Mount Polley mine near Likely can re-start, however there are several conditionsIt has been just over 11 months since the tailings pond breach at the mine sent millions of cubic metres of tailings down the Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake. Today, Minister of Mines Bill Bennett, and Minister of Environment Mary Polak gave the ok for the mine to start “restricted” operations.
“This conditional restricted permit to re-start operations is the first of three significant steps the company needs to continue operation and does not include the ability to discharge water off the site,” said Bennett. “In the early fall, the company will need a second conditional permit to treat and discharge water in order for operations to continue. Lastly, the company must submit a long-term water treatment and discharge plan to government by June 30, 2016.
The mine will not be authorized to continue to operate long-term if it fails to complete either of the last two steps.”
The Mount Polley Mine Corporation estimates it will take about 30 days before it can begin production now that ministry staff have amended the company’s Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permits. During restricted operations, the company expects to provide jobs for up to 220 workers.
The amended Mines Act permit authorizes the company to operate at roughly half the rate of normal operations. The tailings facility will not be utilized during the operation. Mount Polley Mine will use Springer Pit, an existing open pit on the mine site, to manage the tailings.
There are several other conditions that must be met, failure to do so will result in the mine’s operations being shut down:
* Water and tailings levels in Springer Pit must remain 20 metres below the top of the lowest pit edge (1,030 metres above sea level).
* No discharge off the mine site is authorized. The company must apply for a permit to treat and discharge water.
* Mount Polley Mining Corporation is not permitted to use its tailings storage facility (TSF).
* The company must pay an additional $6.1 million reclamation security.
* A five-year mine plan and reclamation plan must be provided to government by Sept. 30, 2015.
* An updated surface and groundwater monitoring plan must be submitted for approval by July 31, 2015.
* A long-term water treatment and discharge plan must be submitted to government by June 30, 2016. The mine will not be permitted to
continue to operate if it fails to meet this deadline.
Inspectors with the Ministry of Energy and Mines will be onsite during the initial start-up period and will conduct regular site inspections once the mine is operating. Additionally, permit conditions require the company to provide weekly reports to government, First Nations, the Cariboo Regional District the
community of Likely, detailing water management and water quality results. If necessary, ministry inspectors have full authority to issue stop work orders for any area of the mine found to be in non-compliance.
Comments
Maybe the mine should not be started until water levels are up…
low copper prices anyway. I don’t think it matters to Imperial Metals that much, either way. The margins are so low for them. Thus it is just to get some work for the guys.
Well surprise, surprise, surprise! Anyone who reads my comments would know how predictable this decision for Mount Polley to restart operations was. My most recent comment madeb just yesterday:
“No worries, Pacific Booker Minerals will get its’ permit to operate, IMO if a mining company like Imperial Metals can dump hundreds of tonnes of toxic sludge into our pristine environment one year, get off scott free, and be up and operational the next year… anything goes right?”
Can’t have a large contributor to the BC Liberal Party’s election campaign sit idle simply because it caused one of the largest environmental disasters in the world. Got to rubber stamp that startup, because IMO future donations to the BC Liberal Party are likely to increase from that contributor.
This is how the world of business and politics works, it would seem.
“because it caused one of the largest environmental disasters in the world”
Seems rather benign in the area, water got a little muddy but no red flags left up.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling.
Using the Sage’s analytics .
We would all be better off living in the Stone Age .
Without the fire. IMO
Keep their feet to the fire going forward, there are other investigation reports still to come. Getting people back to work also most important they are some very happy workers and families today.
Aren’t the mine workers unionized? I’m sure that the Union and the NDP will be so happy to have their brothers and sisters back on the job!
Once back to work, they will be earning good family sustaining incomings! They’ll be paying union dues! They’ll be paying taxes to support the social programs that so many on this site consider essential!
Yup, I’m sure that the NDP, the Union AND the Liberals will all be pleased!
Some people won’t be pleased, but you can’t please everybody! In some cases, why even bother?
anyone surprised?
I am not…..
So when you watch the two minute video I have linked to in this comment, what goes through your mind when you watch it? Oh those poor unemployed workers? The Union? The NDP? The Stone Age?
What goes through my mind when I watch it is; “what a f*cking tragedy” and “whoever f*cked up on this monumental level needs to pay.”
www. youtube.com/watch?v=vg3yd8GPSnA
Anyone notice the size of the tailings pond, that’s not a pond, that’s a fricken lake!!!
Gee Sophie, I wonder if any of the copper and gold that was sourced from this mine ended up in the components of your computer? Now, wouldn’t that suck!!
As consumers of the products that are manufactured with the copper and gold sourced from this and other mines, I would suggest that we are all to some degree culpable for the breach, aren’t we? Now, that sucks too!
Hope that thought keeps you awake tonight Sophie!
Say sage ever hear of Google earth, well have a look at the ponds for Gibraltar mines or endako mines just for a couple, sit down first you will be absolutely shocked. Just where did you ever think your stuff came from, grew on the store shelf?
Oh by the way lakes are called ponds in Newfoundland-Labrador.
For now I am satisfied that Mt. Polley Mine will be under intense scrutiny for their limited startup. I personally know many of the worhers there, and having some of them returning to work is a good thing.
The extent that some of you will go to in order to defend Imperial Metals Corp. makes me wonder how closely linked you are to them. Either you are employed or contracting to them, or you are heavily invested in their stocks? Your chronic defense of them and trying to downplay the events of the past year is embarassing! Some 29 million cubic meters of mining byproduct went into the local watershed. “Made the waters a little muddy”?? Seriously do you even have a clue? This is a concentrate of all the trace minerals (many of which are harmful to the ecology of the area, let alone the locals who constantly drink the local water/eat fish from those waters). This was not innocent surface mud which has already been exposed and washed out for centuries, they still do not know what the entire make up of the sludge was because routine testing and monitoring had not been done!
Its a mixed bag of feelings for me. I spent years on and around Quesnel lake in my youth and now worry about the very real possibility that the stuff they know very little about may end up leaching into the waters. I knew the original claim holders of half of the site prior to the mine starting up, I know many of the Likely locals and hope that years of consuming the local water does not cause them ill effects. I realize that the local economy is dependant upon this restart, so while I am happy for the employees, I still have reservations about the “truth that lies within” the “muddy waters”. If this was your drinking water and fish that you consume regularly, I am certain that you would find your unwavering idiotic defense a little irritating.
And WTF does union or non-union have to do with it? The fault lies jointly with the Corp and the Govt.
Just spent 4 days at Quesnel lake, home of the largest environmental disasters in the world. Must have been a remarkable recovery.
Watchdog the fault lies mainly with the company that did the exploration work for the dam. They missed the weak layer.
There has been a lot of testing and no red flags yet even UNBC is involved.
Comments for this article are closed.