British Columbia Mining – Page 50

Government’s suppression of Mount Polley report ‘verges on the absurd’: lawyer – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – October 7, 2014)

October 8, 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 — The B.C. government appears to have systemically breached its freedom of information law by withholding information related to the collapse of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine, environment lawyers say.

The province has refused to provide recent inspection reports related to the tailings pond, saying such information may undermine any one of three investigations to determine why the dam failed on Aug. 4, sending a torrent of toxic waste and debris into surrounding waterways.

But when provincial officials refused to hand over a 22-year-old report on the Mount Polley mine, the legal director for the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre decided the suppression of information had gone too far.

“The provincial government’s refusal to provide timely access is not only highly troubling, but verges on the absurd,” said Calvin Sandborn in a 60-page submission asking B.C.’s Information and Privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham for a review of the province’s conduct. The 1992 report was sitting on a shelf in the Williams Lake public library and a helpful librarian eventually sent him a copy.

INDIGENOUS CANADIANS ARE BLOCKADING A MINE TO PROTEST POLLUTION – by Sarah Berman (Vice.com – October 6, 2014)

October 7, 2014

http://www.vice.com/en_ca

On Friday, Imperial Metals, the company responsible for Canada’s largest-ever mining waste spill, served an injunction application to indigenous protesters blocking roads to its Red Chris copper and gold mine near Iskut, British Columbia.

A group of Tahltan First Nation elders known as the Klabona Keepers have blocked access to the mine for the second time in two months over concerns that Red Chris is too similar to Mount Polley, a sister mine that spewed 24 million cubic meters of toxic sludge and wastewater into one of the province’s biggest salmon spawning lakes on August 4.

“As a result of the blockades and the conduct of the blockaders, no person and no vehicle are able to access the project site along the access roads,” reads Imperial Metals’ injunction application, which was delivered yesterday morning. “Red Chris has been forced to severely limit its construction activities at the project site, and if the blockade continues, will be forced to halt them altogether.”

Resource companies often use injunctions to break up protests. For example, on October 3, 2013, a company called SWN Resources was granted an injunction to remove Elsipogtog First Nation protesters from a shale gas exploration site north of Moncton, New Brunswick. Two weeks later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) enforced the injunction with an over-the-top display of force that included beanbag guns, police dogs, snipers, and plenty of pepper spray. Needless to say, shit escalated quickly.

First Nations chiefs seek to develop new tribal park in B.C. – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – October 6, 2014)

October 6, 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 — The concept of what a park is and how it functions to protect the landscape is being redefined in British Columbia by First Nations in ways that some might find surprising.

At a totem pole-raising ceremony on the weekend, the Tsilhqot’in First Nation announced plans to create Dasiqox Tribal Park, the latest in a series of declarations by native organizations aimed at protecting massive swaths of territory.

Dasiqox covers about 300,000 hectares of some of the most spectacular landscapes in Canada. The Valhalla Wilderness Society, which has long advocated protecting the area, describes it as “a vast mountain enclave for grizzlies” and other wildlife.

Unlike federally designated national parks and provincial enclaves, the First Nations concept in B.C. aims to create protected areas under the jurisdiction of native people, with potential room for resource extraction. While not new, these parks allow First Nations to control logging, mining and other activities in a particular region, which might otherwise be open to unfettered use by business.

In a series of interviews, Tsilhqot’in chiefs made it clear that their idea of what a park is, is very different from what most Canadians might think.

B.C. signed-off on tailings dam repair after fissure found in 2010 – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – October 5, 2014)

October 6, 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 — The owners of the Mount Polley mine say a crack in their tailings dam found in 2010 was almost a kilometre away from the spot where the dam containing toxic waste failed this summer, and the company “fully complied” with a series of recommendations to improve safety in response to that initial fissure.

But NDP Leader John Horgan is calling for the release of technical documents to show just what the company and the province knew about the safety of the dam prior to the Aug. 4 breach in the dam that flushed 24 million cubic metres of water and mine tailings into Quesnel Lake in central B.C.

The last geotechnical inspection by the ministry of mines at Mount Polley took place in September of 2013 and resulted in no orders related to the tailings storage facility, according to ministry officials.

The government has not opened its inspection files, saying it must “protect the integrity and independence” of an independent engineering investigation and inquiry into the tailings pond breach that is expected to be completed in January.

“The most horrific environmental disaster in B.C.’s history wouldn’t have happened if everything was fine,” Mr. Horgan said Sunday. “They are trying to say everything that could be done, was done, but they won’t release the documents to show what they did.”

BC Cities Demand Review of Thermal Coal Exports – by David P. Ball (The Tyee.ca – September 26, 2014)

September 29, 2014

http://thetyee.ca/

Confab of municipalities passes resolution in favour of greater oversight.

The province’s 190 local governments and 26 districts are calling for more government oversight over thermal coal exports in British Columbia, which are set to increase after a recent federal decision.

Delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ annual meeting in Whistler voted in favour of an assessment of the health and environmental risks of coal carried by train from the U.S. through White Rock and Surrey, and by barge to B.C.’s Texada Island — a corridor beyond the scope of Port Metro Vancouver’s own required reviews.

The UBCM resolution states that “there is currently no mechanism that provides oversight or ensures the implementation of mitigation measures to minimize environmental and health impacts of thermal coal transport over coastal waters and by rail.”

It calls for “a comprehensive environmental and health impact assessment for the shipment of thermal coal over coastal waters and by rail,” and that a provincial or federal agency be chosen to monitor it.

Though non-binding on the provincial or federal governments, the vote came five weeks after a federal port authority approved Fraser Surrey Docks’ application to build a transfer facility for four million tonnes of thermal coal a year.

Petronas plays hardball with B.C. over Pacific NorthWest LNG – by Brent Jang and Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – September 26, 2014)

September 26, 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 and and VICTORIA — Malaysia’s state-owned energy company is picking a fight with British Columbia over its handling of the province’s fledgling liquefied natural gas industry, creating a rift that threatens a major project and further clouds Canada’s natural-resource ambitions.

Shamsul Azhar Abbas, the chief executive officer of Petronas, is warning that unless the B.C. government unveils competitive tax and regulatory rules next month, he will cancel plans to spend an estimated $36-billion on the Malaysian-led energy project called Pacific NorthWest LNG. The massive budget includes nearly $11-billion for an export plant to be built at Lelu Island in northwestern B.C.

“Rather than ensuring the development of the LNG industry through appropriate incentives and assurance of legal and fiscal stability, the Canadian landscape of LNG development is now one of uncertainty, delay and short vision,” Mr. Shamsul told the Financial Times. Canada is “already 40 years behind in the game.”

The dispute pits Petronas against a province that has been striving to turn its rich reserves of natural gas into a vibrant new industry that would create tens of thousands of jobs and a lucrative stream of tax revenue. It comes as Canadian energy companies are increasingly running into roadblocks in their efforts to bring more oil and gas to global markets. Major oil pipeline developments have been held up by opposition from environmentalists and First Nations, as well as political conflict.

Ghost town to boom town: B.C.’s Kitsault looks to LNG – Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – September 23, 2014)

September 23, 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 — The proud owner of a B.C. ghost town figures he will get the last laugh. But Krishnan Suthanthiran still has a long way to go before making his unorthodox investment in the remote community of Kitsault pay off, if ever. Row after row of houses and other buildings sit empty, waiting for the first occupants since 1983. For now, the town serves as a time capsule from the early 1980s.

Mr. Suthanthiran paid $7-million for the community in northwestern British Columbia in 2005, when the region went through another round of rough times.

Today, the area’s economy is faring much better, fuelled in part by Rio Tinto Alcan’s massive modernization project at its aluminum smelter in Kitimat, a 230-kilometre drive south of Kitsault. Across northwestern British Columbia, several energy firms are doing preliminary work on their liquefied natural gas proposals.

Mr. Suthanthiran serves as president of Kitsault Energy Ltd., the name of a fledgling project to export LNG to energy-thirsty customers in Asia. Kitsault Energy is one of 17 B.C. LNG proposals announced to date, though it is far from certain that even one export plant will get built.

Mount Polley disaster undermines public trust – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – September 21, 2014)

September 22, 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 — When Enbridge Inc. sought approval to build the Northern Gateway oil pipeline, Premier Christy Clark said she would oppose the project so long as the environmental safety regime on land and on the water was in doubt. In its formal rejection letter, her government stated: “‘Trust me’ is not good enough in this case.”

The same could be said in the case of the Mount Polley mine. And the Clark government should be worried that this lack of faith could spill across the resource sector.

It is still not clear why the mine’s tailings dam burst last month. Environment Minister Mary Polak says there is no evidence that her government’s cutbacks to enforcement and inspections were to blame.

The breach in the dam flushed 24 million cubic metres of water and mine tailings into Quesnel Lake. Mining industry and government officials alike tugged their forelocks and promised to review dam design and maintenance. If the public focuses only on the question of dam safety, they will be getting off lightly.

Experts have warned, time and again, that provincial budget cuts to environmental regulation could result in a catastrophe. Here are just two examples:

Mount Polley’s Sister Mine: We Must Do This One Right – by Wade Davis (The Tyee.ca – September 22, 2014)

September 22, 2014

http://thetyee.ca/

Red Chris mine is expected to yield a vast fortune. But how to insure against another catastrophe?

The highest levels of corporate integrity and responsibility should be the standard for any new mine in Canada, and especially for one with as much potential as Imperial Metals’ Red Chris project, situated at the heart of the Sacred Headwaters in remote northwestern British Columbia. Imperial Metals has acknowledged that all exploration, regulation and construction costs will be reclaimed within two years of the mine’s anticipated three decades of active production.

If true this immense and certain profitability ought to allow both the company and the government to push the limits of excellence on every front, assuring the public at every step in the process that costs and/or expediency will never deflect them from their goal of building an exemplary mine. It is in the interests of all of the mining industry and both federal and provincial governments that such high standards be set for Red Chris. Civic and corporate responsibility aside, self-interest alone would suggest that Imperial ought to build a great mine.

Consider the optics of Imperial’s immediate dilemma. Todagin Mountain, site of the Red Chris mine, is home to the largest concentration of stone sheep in the world, a resident population that attracts remarkable numbers of predators. A wildlife sanctuary in the sky, the massif looks west to Edziza, sacred mountain of the Tahltan; north to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, internationally known as the K2 of white water challenges; east to the Sacred Headwaters, birthplace of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass Rivers; and beyond to the Spatsizi, widely recognized as the Serengeti of Canada.

Anger and confusion after worst disaster in Canadian mining history darkens prosperous B.C. town – by Brian Hutchinson (National Post – September 13, 2014)

September 15, 2014

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

“Check your knives at the bar,” reads a sign inside this village’s only watering hole. In hard times, before the Mount Polley mine opened 17 years ago, there wasn’t much work to be found, and folks sometimes turned as sour as the cheap beer and boxed wine. Things could get rough inside the Likely saloon.

Likely has enjoyed much better days lately, thanks to the mine and the wealth it was generating. But one morning in early August, a section of the tailings pond dam up at the Mount Polley mine crumbled, releasing 10 million cubic metres of dirty mine water and almost five million cubic metres of finely crushed rock, known as tailings.

The water and tailings formed a thick slurry that roared down Hazeltine Creek, knocking down trees and anything else in its way. It poured into Quesnel Lake, one of the largest — and the deepest — fresh water lakes in B.C.

Since that cataclysmic event, the worst of its kind in Canadian mining history, a cloud has hung over little Likely, a village of perhaps 350 huddled at the top of Quesnel Lake, 600 kilometres north of Vancouver. There is anger here, and resentment. Divisions have formed and blame is assigned. But confusion reigns.

Some local residents and First Nations members claim their lake is now fatally toxic, that the water is peeling skin from fish and is even burning human flesh. Others say that’s just wild fear-mongering. The fact is, no one knows what the accident really means for their lake and their town, even four weeks later.

Dams under review after Mount Polley breach, mining leader says – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – September 11, 2014)

September 12, 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 — Industry and government officials across the country are reviewing dam design, maintenance and oversight in the wake of a tailings dam breach at Mount Polley mine in B.C., says the head of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC).

“No one in the industry, after this incident, didn’t wake up in the morning and go, ‘I better go check’ – even though they had reams of information and assurances that everything was safe,” MAC president Pierre Gratton said Thursday following an address to the Vancouver Board of Trade. “I think every one of them wanted to go out and get that reassurance again.”

On Aug. 4, a tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine – operated by Vancouver-based Imperial Metals – gave way, sending a torrent of mud and debris into neighbouring waterways and resulting in drinking-water bans in affected areas. Most of those advisories have been lifted, but a do-not-use order remains in effect for the “impact zone,” which includes Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and part of Quesnel Lake.

The cause of the breach is unknown and an independent investigation is under way.

The incident rattled the mining sector and raised questions about oversight and regulation of tailings dams in British Columbia and elsewhere in the country. Following the Mount Polley breach, the B.C. government moved the deadline for companies to file annual inspection reports for tailings dams from March 31, 2015, to December 1, 2014, and also ordered those inspections to be independently reviewed.

[Nanaimo] City’s south is steeped in history – by Lynne Bowen (Nanaimo Daily News – September 11, 2014)

September 11, 2014

http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/

Mining families lived in small houses and grew their own food, single men found in boarding houses

Excerpt From Lynne Bowen’s essay: Thinking Back, from the forthcoming publication for Black Diamond Dust.

Lynne Bowen is an award winning Nanaimo-based historian and author known for her landmark 1982 book ‘Boss Whistle: The Coal Miners of Vancouver Island Remember,’ and six other important books about British Columbia history.

Haliburton Street was the most important thoroughfare in the South End. Mining families lived there or on the streets above and below it; single men lived in the boarding houses that clustered around the corner nearest the pub where the day shift miners, except those who were teetotal, drank beer after work.

In a town where all the important streets and avenues were named after English coal company directors, it was fitting that the main thoroughfare of the South End, where the biggest mine in British Columbia drew coal from under the harbour, was named after the best known among the directors.

Thomas Chandler Haliburton had lived most of his life in Nova Scotia, but had moved to Britain when he retired. Although he had been a judge and a politician on both sides of the Atlantic, posterity knows him best as the creator of the Sam Slick satirical sketches, which made him a bestselling author in Nova Scotia, Great Britain and the United States.

First Nations protesters shut down northern B.C. drilling site – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – September 9, 2014)

September 10, 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 — After a summer of protests aimed at mining companies, members of the Tahltan Nation in northern B.C. say they have shut down an exploratory drilling operation by taking over the site.

“HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!!” states a Monday night posting on the Facebook page for Tahltan elders. “The Klabona Keeper members are occupying a black hawk drill pad above Ealue Lake!!!”

The elders’ group, which is based in Iskut just south of Dease Lake, has staged several protests in the area in recent years blocking resource companies from working in a place known as the Sacred Headwaters. The region is highly valued by the Tahltan because it holds the headwaters of three important salmon rivers – the Stikine, Skeena and Nass.

Rhoda Quock, a spokeswoman for the Klabono Keepers, said Tuesday a group of protesters hiked to the remote drill site and took it over.

She said Black Hawk Drilling Ltd., a Smithers, B.C., company that works for Firesteel Resources Inc. of Vancouver and OZ Minerals of Australia, flew its drilling crew out after the occupation began.

Recent Mining Disasters Underscore Significant Challenges Posed by Huge Open Pit Mining Projects – by Frances Causey (Huffington Post – September 9, 2014)

September 10, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/

Frances Causey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist.

The Mount Polley mining disaster on Aug. 4 in Canada’s Cariboo Regional District is being called possibly the worst environmental disaster in British Columbia history. A tailings dam collapsed at an open pit copper and gold mine tailings dump, sending huge volumes of toxic waste into critical waterways 370 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia. The environmental catastrophe wreaked havoc throughout the region, initiating an emergency drinking water ban, severely damaging the region’s important sockeye salmon habitat, a critical food and income source for the area’s First Nation’s communities and abruptly putting a halt to the area’s vibrant tourism.

Years before the disaster, the B.C. Ministry of Environment repeatedly warned the Mt. Polley mine owner, Imperial Metals, that the waste water level of the Mt. Polley tailings pond was too high. The Mt. Polley spill is being compared to the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, which spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska.

The area around the Valdez spill contained a thriving spring herring fishery that has not fully recovered and may never, according to government scientists. The impact and cost to clean up the Mt. Polley spill is still being evaluated and will be for years to come, but one can’t help but wonder what the sockeye salmon run there will look like in 25 years.

And just last week, 25 miles across the border from Arizona, Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista copper mine in Canenea, Sonora, had a tailings dump failure that poured 10 million gallons of copper sulfate acid into a river that supplies water to tens of thousands of people living in rural areas along the Rio Sonora. The river of orange poison reportedly is killing livestock and wildlife.