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British Columbia Mining

[British Columbia] Mount Polley mine engineers face disciplinary hearing – by Andrea Woo (Globe and Mail – September 26, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The regulatory body that oversees British Columbia’s engineers and geoscientists is alleging negligence and unprofessional conduct against three engineers in connection with the 2014 Mount Polley dam collapse that sent millions of cubic metres of tailings-pond water into B.C. waterways.

Engineers and Geoscientists BC announced the hearings, scheduled for next year, for Todd Martin, Laura Fidel and Stephen Rice on Wednesday following an independent investigation into the breach.

The regulator’s investigation committee alleges that the three individuals, who were involved in the design, construction and monitoring of the tailings-storage facility, demonstrated negligence and/or unprofessional conduct in the course of their professional activities. The allegations have not yet been heard by a disciplinary panel and are unproven.

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Appeals court sides with Colville Tribe against Canadian mining company for polluting Upper Columbia River – by Agueda Pacheco-Flores (Seattle Times – September 25, 2018)

https://www.seattletimes.com/

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court decision finding a Canadian company is liable for polluting the Upper Columbia River in a hard-fought lawsuit between the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the largest lead and zinc mining company in the world.

In a 55-page opinion issued Sep. 14, federal appellate court judges Ronald M. Gould, Richard A. Paez, and Michael J. McShane upheld a district-court decision that U.S. federal courts do have jurisdiction to find Teck Resources Ltd. (formerly Teck Cominco Metals) liable for polluting the river for close to a century.

The ruling upheld a lower court order for the company to reimburse the Colville tribe $8.25 million — $3.39 million the tribe paid to investigate the river’s pollution, plus $4.86 million in attorney fees and costs. The company must also pay $344,300 in prejudgment interest, bringing the total to nearly $8.6 million.

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NEWS RELEASE: BC Mine Reclamation Award and Scholarship Recipients Announced

Williams Lake, B.C., Canada – September 24, 2018 – The British Columbia Technical and Research Committee on Reclamation (TRCR) presented the 2017 BC Mine Reclamation Award at its 41st Annual BC Mine Reclamation Symposium in Williams Lake last Wednesday.

The Jake McDonald Annual Mine Reclamation Award was presented to Teck Highland Valley Copper Partnership for its use of tailings ponds and pit lakes at its mine near the town of Logan Lake, B.C. for aquatic habitat and as passive water treatment facilities.

“The resulting progressive reclamation of the Bethlehem, Trojan, and Highmont tailings ponds, and the Huestis, Iona, and Jersey pit lakes that has occurred over 20 years demonstrates that Highland Valley Copper is a global leader in this area of mine reclamation science,” noted Jennifer McConnachie, Chair of the TRCR Awards Subcommittee.

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Imperial Metals explores sale of company amid financial restructuring – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Troubled junior copper producer Imperial Metals Corp. has kicked off a strategic review that may result in the sale of the company as it struggles under a mountain of debt.

In a Monday release, Imperial Metals said it will also consider selling assets piecemeal, entering into joint ventures or recapitalizing the company.

The Vancouver-based company, backed by well-known energy executive Murray Edwards, says it has taken a number of steps that give it financial breathing room in the short term. With a market capitalization of just $134-million, it has a debt load of roughly $857-million and a cash balance of $16-million as of the end of the second quarter.

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Taseko claims court victory but natives call on B.C. to block New Prosperity – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – August 28, 2018)

http://resourceclips.com/

In theory, the latest court decision regarding Taseko Mines’ (TSX:TKO) New Prosperity project might have brought some clarity to Canada’s vaguely defined “duty to consult.” But how that plays out in practice remains to be seen.

On August 28 the company stated that last week’s British Columbia Supreme Court decision overrules native objection to an exploration permit. The ruling allows Taseko to collect data that might overcome a 2014 federal environmental rejection for the proposed gold-copper open pit in the province’s south-central area.

Calling the decision “unequivocal,” company president/CEO Russell Hallbauer said it affirmed the province’s “authority to approve resource development work even in the face of aboriginal opposition.

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B.C. could see more dam failures like Mount Polley without better regulation, report says (CBC News British Columbia – August 28, 2018)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Research predicts 2 dam failures every 10 years

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is warning that B.C. could see more disasters like the Mount Polley dam collapse if regulations around mining remain unchanged.

According to the report, co-published by the Corporate Mapping Project, the Wilderness Committee and Brazil-based PoEMAS, there could be as many as two dam failures every 10 years.

On Aug. 4, 2014, the Mount Polley mine’s tailings dam broke, sending 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into nearby lakes and rivers.

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Clean up that damn [British Columbia] mine – by Brian Lynch (Juneau Empire – August 17, 2018)

http://juneauempire.com/

Brian Lynch of Petersburg is a commercial fisheries biologist retired after a 30 year career with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and currently works in Petersburg for Rivers Without Borders on transboundary mining issues.

The Tulsequah Chief mine has been polluting the Taku Watershed with acid mine drainage (AMD) for over 60 years now. This pollution is in violation of British Columbia and Canadian laws and mine permits.

The most recent study done by B.C. found “unacceptable risks” from the toxic drainage. Three years ago the B.C. Mines Minister visited Juneau and promised to remedy the problem, yet nothing has been done. So, why is the pollution still happening?

Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott’s efforts to draw attention to the need for B.C. to promptly and completely close and clean up the mine site have been helpful, but more is needed to get B.C. to move beyond promises and to take action.

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Gold Billionaire Ross Beaty’s Unfinished Business – by Goldfinger (CEO.ca – August 14, 2018)

https://ceo.ca/

Intelligent. Impatient. Addicted to the game of creating wealth for others. Billionaire mining entrepreneur Ross Beaty has built one successful resource company after another. The Vancouver geologist formed Lumina Copper in the early 2000s to acquire and develop copper projects. Early investors there were rewarded with staggering returns of over 8000% (Full story).

Beaty created Pan American Silver, one of the world’s largest silver producers. He’s backed countless other successful mining startups including Ventana Gold and Augusta Resource Corp. in a big way. In 2009, Beaty turned his sights to renewable energy, and built Alterra Power into a successful producer that was acquired for $1.1 billion last year.

He’s been honored with the Order of Canada (2017), the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame (2018), the B.C. Business Laureates Hall of Fame (2017), and countless others for his entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

We recently caught up with Mr. Beaty to learn about his new gold business and hear his thoughts on the mining cycle.

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Fraser River rush revisited: A new book reveals how gold fever brought American warfare north of the border – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – August 3, 2018)

http://resourceclips.com/

Is this the price of gold—the murder of defenceless people followed by retaliatory beheadings as a private American army threatens genocidal war in the future Canada? There’s more to British Columbia’s first great gold rush than has been acknowledged and, 160 years after the fact, a newly published book casts harsh light on the Fraser River mania and its accompanying Fraser River War.

That the war even happened will take many people by surprise. Downplayed or ignored in Canadian research, its significance gets special emphasis in Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New El Dorado.

The war constitutes one of a number of surprises in what author Daniel Marshall, a University of Victoria professor and descendant of 1858 arrivals from Cornwall, calls a “substantial revisionist history.”

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Federal government to sell Ridley coal terminal, with First Nations touted as potential part owners – Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – August 10, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa plans to sell Ridley Terminals Inc., a federal Crown corporation that owns a B.C. coal export facility, to buyers that could include Indigenous groups partnering with a private-sector firm.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Thursday the terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert in Northern British Columbia is back on the block and Ottawa is seeking Indigenous input on the sale.

“By consulting early on with Indigenous communities on the future of Ridley, we are reiterating our commitment to advance reconciliation and to renew the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples in Canada,” Mr. Garneau said in a statement.

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[British Columbia Mining] PROVINCE PROCLAIMS JULY 27 AS “GINGER GOODWIN DAY” – by James Wood(Campbell River Now.com – July 26, 2018)

Campbell River Now

VICTORIA, B.C- A well-known labour activist in the Comox Valley will be celebrated by the province tomorrow. According to an announcement from the B.C government, Friday July 27, 2018 will be known as Ginger Goodwin Day, in order to celebrate Albert (Ginger) Goodwin, who was a pioneering figure in the province’s labour movement.

Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of his death in the mountains near Cumberland, after being shot by police.

Born in England, Goodwin had come to Cumberland in 1910 after coming to Canada four years earlier. At the time, the community was a centre of coal mining, with at least 260 people killed in work-related accidents from 1888 to the 1960s.

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Newmont Mining buys stake in Canadian gold project (Reuters/Globe and Mail – July 26, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Newmont Mining Corp, which topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, said on Thursday it would acquire a 50 percent stake in a gold project in Western Canada as miners look for new reserves.

Major gold miners are racing to explore, expand and construct new mines as years of belt tightening have left them with diminishing reserves at their existing mines.

Newmont would pay $275 million to Novagold Resources Inc for its stake in the Galore Creek project. The remaining stake is held by Teck Resources Ltd.

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B.C. continues to be permitting bog for mining: Fraser Institute – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – July 24, 2018)

https://biv.com/

Annual mining survey finds B.C. among the most opaque jurisdictions in Canada

Canada continues to be one of the most confusing and bureaucratic countries for mining and exploration, according to an annual survey by the Fraser Institute, and B.C. is among the slowest provinces in terms of permitting.

In its survey, 160 mining executives and managers said that regulations for permitting are confusing, lacking in transparency and, in many cases, duplicative.

They rate B.C., Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to be the most uncertain jurisdictions for mining and exploration in Canada. “What we’re seeing in our results is that B.C. is lagging behind Quebec and Ontario in many measures.

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U.S. officials accuse Canada of sitting on damning data on B.C. mining toxins in a transboundary river – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press/Global News – July 8, 2018)

https://globalnews.ca/

United States officials are accusing their Canadian counterparts of sitting on damning new data about toxic chemicals from southern British Columbia coal mines in water shared by both countries.

In a letter to the U.S. State Department, Americans on the International Joint Commission say Canadian members are blocking the release of information on contaminants that are many times above guideline levels. The commission was created in 1909 as a way to discuss water that crosses the U.S.-Canada border.

The B.C. dispute, brewing for decades, burst open in June when the commission’s two Canadian members refused to endorse a report on selenium in the Elk River watershed just north of the border.

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Sustaining dialogue: Resources for Future Generations brings diverse viewpoints to vital issues – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – June 15, 2018)

http://resourceclips.com/

Evidently the organizers want to find common ground between disparate, even polarized, viewpoints. And Vancouver, as a world capital of mining, a burgeoning high-tech centre for clean energy and a hotbed of environmental activism, might be the ideal venue for such an endeavour.

It’s here that Resources for Future Generations will assemble an international and divergent group to discuss three essentials to our survival on this planet: energy, minerals and water.

The event takes place at the Vancouver Convention Centre between June 16 and 21 where, to offer just a few examples, representatives of Rio Tinto, the David Suzuki Foundation, Clean Energy Canada, the Tahltan Nation and Resource Works will meet and mingle, where the likes of Ross Beaty and Tzeporah Berman will share perspectives and where the public—the real stakeholders in all this—might gain a better understanding of resource-related issues.

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