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British Columbia Mining

B.C. aboriginal training program ends amid funding dispute – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – November 9, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — A federally funded program that helped more than 1,000 First Nations people land jobs in British Columbia’s mining sector has abruptly closed its doors, saying it was not able to operate without secure financing from Ottawa.

The federal government, however, says the $10-million program – known as the Aboriginal Mentoring and Training Association, or AMTA – filed “questionable expense claims” and was unable to account for some of the money it received before it ceased operations.

The group insists it can account for all the funds it has received and spent. The unhappy ending mars what had been a success story for industry, First Nations communities and people such as Meagan Sam.

Ms. Sam, currently working as a contract truck driver at the Gibraltar mine, about 65 kilometres north of Williams Lake, said AMTA counsellors helped her get through training programs, including a stint in the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook.

“They really opened doors for me,” Ms. Sam said Friday in an interview. “I maybe could have done it [the training] on my own, but it would have been a lot harder.”

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At Alaska mining conference, talk of Pebble and Mount Polley – by Yereth Rosen (Alaska Dispatch News – November 6, 2014)

http://www.adn.com/

The owner of the Canadian mine that suffered a disastrous dam breach in August might face sanctions as serious as criminal penalties, British Columbia government officials said on Wednesday.

Decisions on corrective and possibly punitive steps will be made after provincial officials learn the findings of three separate investigations into the Mount Polley Mine dam failure, said Bill Bennett, British Columbia’s minister of energy and mines.

The Aug. 4 dam failure, though unprecedented for British Columbia, undercut confidence in the safety of mining in the province and around the world, Bennett told an audience at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage. “If it could happen there, where else can it happen? And that’s a question that’s on all of our minds, I think,” he said.

The Mount Polley dam breach has been cited by opponents of the controversial Pebble mine as a harbinger of risks that project poses to Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay region. Mount Polley is considered a moderate-sized mine for British Columbia; the proposed Pebble copper and gold project would be much bigger, with a much bigger tailings dam and much bigger potential damages, critics say.

Mount Polley’s woes also concern fishermen and environmentalists in Southeast Alaska, many of them already on edge because of spreading mine development just over the border in British Columbia.

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My Turn: Transboundary mines a looming problem [Mining on British Columnbia/Alaska border] – by Joe Mehrkens (The Juneau Empire – November 7, 2014)

http://juneauempire.com/

Joe Mehrkens is a retired forest economist living in Petersburg.

On Oct. 24, a public forum was held on the potential impacts to the Southeast fishing industry from new large mines in British Columbia. This is not the same old battle between greenies and boomers over development. It is a large, growing problem that has no institutional mechanisms to ensure environmental safeguards or provide any means to compensate third parties for potential damages.

This summer, a large tailings dam failed at the Mount Polley mine. The broken dam dumped 14.5 million cubic feet of water and slurry into salmon waters (Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Cariboo Creek). Even more disturbing, these polluted waters are a tributary of the Frazier River — the most productive sockeye salmon river in British Columbia. While total damages will be not quantified for years, it is characterized as Canada’s worst environmental disaster in modern times. Many more large mines are planned as BC expands its energy grid to new mineral deposits.

The Mount Polley failure may be a harbinger of the future. Environmental restoration will be minimal or nonexistent, and there will be no compensation for damage to non-mining interests — on either side of the border. Even if damaged parties successfully sue for damages, the mining company can go bankrupt. That process can result in shallow pockets when it comes to damage awards.

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Donald Lindsay: Mining is in Teck chief’s blood – by Melanie Jackson (Business Vancouver – November 4, 2014)

http://www.biv.com/

From underground mining in Saskatchewan to the top corporate tier, Donald Lindsay’s career has been a lifelong love affair with the industry

As part of Teck Resources Ltd.’s (TSX:TCK.B, NYSE:TCK) Emerging Leaders program, president and CEO Don Lindsay greets aspiring vice-presidents, aged 30 to 45, by saying:

“It’s an honour to be selected to this program. It means that you’ve worked awfully hard. You’ve been successful and you’ve accomplished great things. But I’m here to tell you that you can never get yourself promoted again. It’s over.”

Lindsay pauses. At this point his listeners could be forgiven for thinking, What on earth? Then he explains, “The only people who can promote you from here on are those around you. If they don’t want you to succeed, if they don’t want to be led by you, you won’t be.”

Lindsay seeks leaders people want to have around – as opposed to those who try to intimidate or make them feel inadequate.

“The ones who are going to be really successful are going to go and talk to the customer, or talk to the potential partner, find out what their concerns are, find out what their needs are, find out how they like to work.

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B.C.’s mines minister in Alaska to ease concerns over provincial mining – by Dirk Meissner (Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press – November 5, 2014)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Energy Minister Bill Bennett is in Alaska to soothe concerns about the province’s mining industry, which he says is perceived by many Alaskans as a threat to their environment and salmon fishery.

Bennett will address the annual Alaska Miners Association convention in Anchorage, and meet with state officials, commercial and sport fishing organizations and aboriginal groups during his two-day visit.

“There is this impression in some parts of Alaska that our environmental standards, compliance and enforcement efforts are not as strong as theirs,” Bennett said in an interview. “My purpose in going up there … is to talk to folks about how our process actually works. How do you get a mine permitted in B.C.”

The minister will be accompanied on his trip by Chad Day, the Tahltan Central Council president, along with senior government environment and energy officials.

Bennett said concerns about B.C.’s plans to expand its mining interests in the province’s north have heightened since last summer’s massive tailings pond failure at the Mount Polley mine in the central Interior.

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Vancouver and Calgary: A Tale of Two Cities – by Donald McInnes (Asian Pacific Post – November 4, 2014)

http://www.asianpacificpost.com/

Donald McInnes has an extensive background in mining and renewable energy ventures in BC and elsewhere. Based in Vancouver, he is a partner of Oxygen Capital Corporation.

Recently Canada 2020 hosted an event in Vancouver called “Cities as Nation Builders” featuring Mayors Robertson from Vancouver and Naheed Nenshi from Calgary. When I looked at the agenda I could not help consider the recent election advertisement of Mayor Robertson.

He demands on one hand that the Federal and Provincial governments help Vision Vancouver pay for and build a subway line to UBC and in the same breath says he must protect us from the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Everyone in Canada knows that Alberta does not have a provincial sales tax, is near the top in spending more per capita on health care and education and spends more capita on infrastructure than every single other province. How do they do this? I take comfort that Calgarians know, love and celebrate that they are a service and supply centre for the oil patch which gives governments the ability to pay and provide.

By now most Vancouverites will have noticed the crane that was erected at the Seaspan Shipyard in North Vancouver. To me it’s a powerful symbol of economic prosperity and advancement for the province that come from natural resource development.

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In Polley’s Wake, Downstream Alaska Fears BC’s Mining Boom – by Christopher Pollon (The Tyee.ca – November 1, 2014)

http://thetyee.ca/

Tag along with the fishermen whose livelihood depends on watersheds that cross borders

Roaring at seven knots up the U.S. side of the Stikine River, a grizzly bear of a man named Mark Galla steers our jet boat through a gauntlet of protruding logs, attempting to point out the exact point at which Alaska becomes British Columbia. Against the vastness of the surrounding wilderness, the border is invisible, almost arbitrary. Until recently, most Alaskans couldn’t see it either.

That all changed in August when YouTube video highlights of the Mount Polley mine disaster circulated through panhandle towns like Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell. Media from across the state drew comparisons between Mount Polley and the tailings dams that could one day accompany the half-dozen open pit mines proposed in the wild river watersheds that Alaska and B.C. share — the Unuk, Taku and, more than anywhere else, the Stikine.

The first of these proposed mines will be Red Chris, a copper and gold mine built by Mount Polley-owner Imperial Metals in the B.C. headwaters of the Stikine, scheduled to open later this year. Another is the $5.3 billion Kerr-Suphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project, which could generate two billion tons of waste rock, requiring tailings storage in the Nass River drainage and waste rock dumps in the Unuk watershed.

The grand enabler of these projects is a taxpayer-subsidized power line completed this year, which will bring cheap, rock-grinding electricity to the B.C.-Alaska border region for the first time. With the price tag of about $750 million (BC Hydro’s original estimate was $404 million) comes the electricity required for at least five new northwest mines.

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Canada: The Duty To Consult First Nations: A Never-Ending Story? by Benson Buffett PLC Inc. (November 3, 2014)

http://www.mondaq.com/

West Moberly First Nations v. British Columbia (Chief Inspector of Mines) 2014 BCSC 924; Grassy Narrows First Nation v. Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48

Natural resource projects involving land that is subject to a historical treaty necessitates a slightly different standard of accommodation and consultation. These lands have been, effectively, passed to the Crown in exchange for a host of promises. By no means is the duty to consult First Nations eradicated where a treaty exists. Rather, a different set of legal principles and considerations come into account. Modern-day treaties take the form of comprehensive land-claims agreements between First Nations and governments that set out the respective rights, duties, and obligations with respect to the territory in question. As such, any question of consultation and accommodation must be framed within these agreements.

The Decisions

Two recent court cases, West Moberly First Nations v. British Columbia (Chief Inspector of Mines) and Grassy Narrows First Nation v. Ontario (Natural Resources) illustrate the principles at play in consultation and accommodation on treaty lands. In both cases the lands were subject to a treaty, and authorization was given by the Crown to proceed with a natural resource project. The First Nations petitioned the courts to halt the development, citing a lack of consultation and accommodation on the project.

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Mount Polley mine reopening is an issue of credibility – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – November 3, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VICTORIA — It is not too soon, in Williams Lake, to talk about reopening the Mount Polley mine.Not three months has passed since the tailings pond dam failed, releasing millions of cubic metres of waste into central British Columbia waterways.

The province and the company are still working on a cleanup plan that will take years to fully implement. It will be months, at least, before any clear explanation for the dam failure is made public.

But Williams Lake city council, mindful of the uncertain future for hundreds of mine workers, is drafting a letter to Premier Christy Clark – expected to be approved this week – to urge her to get the gold-copper mine back to full operation.

The mine is 55 kilometres from Williams Lake, and many of its workers and suppliers reside in the community. The province has launched three investigations into the ecological disaster, and has cautioned against rushing to judgment on just what happened and why.

“It is going to be really important that none of us form conclusions until we get to the end of those investigations,” Environment Minister Mary Polak said last month.

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Controversial Canadian KSM mine gets key govt. permits – by Mary Catharine Martin (Alaska Journal of Commerce – October 30, 2014)

http://www.alaskajournal.com/

JUNEAU — Kerr Sulphurets Mitchell, a British Columbia mine in the transboundary Unuk River watershed that concerns many Southeast Alaska fishermen, Native organizations, tourism and environmental groups, has received early construction permits from the British Columbia government.

“I think people are feeling not just a sense of urgency, and being threatened, but anger, too,” said Heather Hardcastle, commercial fishing outreach coordinator for Trout Unlimited. “To hear that they have these preliminary permits, road construction permits — it seems like such a slap in the face, because the project doesn’t yet have federal approval from the government in Canada.”

KSM has received provincial approval; Seabridge Gold, the company behind the project, expects the federal decision in November.

KSM, while a large mine, is just one of a handful Southeast Alaskans are concerned about. They and Alaska’s congressional delegation are working to spur international cooperation on the larger issue of mines in transboundary watersheds. Sen. Mark Begich hopes to soon jump-start that coordination.

Rob Sanderson, Jr., Co-Chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group and 2nd Vice President of Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, or CCTHITA, said the provincial approval and permitting “comes as no surprise.”

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Mine closures contribute to 60-70% jobless rate in Tumbler Ridge, says deputy mayor – by Jonny Wakefield (Alaska Highway News/Business Vancouver – October 30, 2014)

http://www.biv.com/

Hundreds of people in the district of Tumbler Ridge lost their jobs in a rash of mine closures this year.

But the town’s exact rate of unemployment – which district staff say would help a push for government assistance – remains a mystery.

Tumbler Ridge councillor Rob Mackay, who also serves as deputy mayor, said a local unemployment rate of between 60 and 70% “would be in the right ball park” since Anglo American Coal and Walter Energy idled their mines in Northeast British Columbia.

The town of 2,700 has been largely dependent on mining since it was incorporated in 1981. Around 700 people directly lost their jobs over a period of around six months, and by the end of the year, there will be no working coal mines in Tumbler Ridge.

“[60 to 70% unemployment] has got to be fairly close, though I don’t know the exact number,” said Mackay. “Those mines were the major employers in Tumbler Ridge.” Both companies cited falling metallurgical coal prices as the reason for the shutdowns.

Jordan Wall, Tumbler Ridge’s economic development officer, said being able to put a hard number on the town’s unemployment rate would underline how bad things are to senior levels of government.

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Teck Resources water-treatment plant shut after dead fish found – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – October 28, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — A $100-million treatment plant that is a key piece of Teck Resources Ltd.’s plan to address a selenium pollution problem in British Columbia’s Elk Valley has been taken off line because of a fish kill.

In a statement, Teck says the Line Creek plant, which went into operation in July, temporarily shut down “as a precautionary measure” while technicians try to figure out what went wrong. Teck states a problem was first noticed Oct. 16 when “fish were found deceased in the area of the water-treatment facility.”

A total of 45 fish were found dead near the plant, which was built as part of a $600-million, five-year plan to address the pollution threat to westslope cutthroat trout and other aquatic life in the Elk Valley.

Environment Canada recently reported selenium levels are so high in the Fording River that trout are hatching with deformed gills, fins, jaws, spines and craniums. Teck’s statement says the cause of the Line Creek fish kill isn’t known at this time.

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Gordienko, Hunt, Cochrane and Sigurdson: Environmentalists get facts wrong about coal – (Vancouver Province – October 26, 2014)

http://www.theprovince.com/index.html

Mark Gordienko is president, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada; Steve Hunt is director, United Steel Workers District 3; Brian Cochrane is business manager, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115; and Tom Sigurdson is executive director, B.C. Building Trades.

“I look at it from the perspective of the importance of coal…..in terms of employment, it’s huge here but I would remind city folk that it provides employment also for people in the Greater Vancouver area.” — Sparwood Mayor Lois Halko

While there has been much attention and controversy surrounding a small, proposed coal terminal — Fraser Surrey Docks — the larger picture of how important coal mining and exports are to British Columbia’s economy is being missed.

Our unions’ members are the coal miners and workers who ship steelmaking coal from B.C. to markets overseas, where steel is made to produce everything from cellphones to wind turbines to subway cars to surgical equipment.

B.C.’s coal sector employs 26,000 people directly and indirectly, creates $3.2 billion in economic activity and generates $715 million in tax revenues for the province and B.C. cities and towns every year.

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Taseko seeks to sue Ottawa for damages over B.C. mine rejection – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 22, 2014)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Taseko Mines Ltd. claims the federal government acted unlawfully in pushing its British Columbia copper project off the rails. Its solution: Try to sue the government for damages and to find out precisely what happened.

On Wednesday, Taseko will appear in a federal court in Vancouver to argue that its two judicial review applications to Ottawa should be combined into one civil lawsuit seeking damages. The move, which appears to be unprecedented, is being fiercely opposed by the government.

“We haven’t found another instance where a company in precisely this position sues the federal government,” said lawyer John Hunter of Hunter Litigation Chambers, which is representing Taseko.

Taseko claims it was the only logical course of action. The Vancouver-based miner says it has evidence of actual malfeasance by federal officials, including secret meetings with opponents of the $1.5-billion New Prosperity project that could have swung Ottawa’s decision.

The project has been controversial for many years. Taseko’s first Prosperity mine proposal was approved by the British Columbia government in 2010, but rejected by Ottawa later that year. It cited environmental concerns over Taseko’s plan to drain the nearby Fish Lake.

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In Wake of Mount Polley, Union Wants New BC Safety Regime – by David P. Ball (The Tyee.ca – October 14, 2014)

http://thetyee.ca/

Ministry defends miners’ exclusion from WorkSafeBC.

It took a spate of deaths in Nanaimo’s coal mines to create a ministry devoted to regulating the industry in 1877. Since that era, the provincial department’s authority over mine health and safety has endured — and subsequent worker protection laws explicitly excluded mines to this day.

But after the near slaughter of workers by the Mount Polley mine tailings dam disaster this summer, the union representing many miners in B.C. is warning about worker safety in the industry.

Thirteen B.C. mine workers have been killed on the job since 2000, according to annual Chief Inspector of Mines reports. The worst year was 2006, when four died from oxygen deprivation at the Sullivan mine near Kimberley, B.C.

Over the same period, a total of 423 people were injured at mine sites, averaging 33 a year. WorkSafeBC’s prevention jurisdiction does not extend to mines to which the Mines Act applies.

All activities conducted in relation to mining within the boundaries of a Mines Act permit area fall within the [occupational health and safety] jurisdiction of [Ministry of Energy and Mines].

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