49 ‘dangerous occurrences’ at B.C. mine tailings ponds in past decade: ministry data – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – August 26, 2014)

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

Dike breach, sinkholes and leaked tailings among incidents

Dangerous occurrences at tailings storage facilities at mines in B.C. between 2000 and 2012 included a breach of a dike, the discovery of sinkholes and leaked tailings. The vast majority of the dangerous occurrences involved incidents with equipment, which crashed, sunk into tailings storage facilities or flipped over.

In several cases, workers were injured and two workers died. The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines provided details of 49 dangerous occurrences at tailings ponds at the request of The Vancouver Sun following Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam collapse on Aug. 4.

The dam failure released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals into Quesnel Lake in central B.C., and has increased scrutiny at the province’s 98 tailings facilities, which store mine waste.

The chief inspector of mines’ annual reports provide an annual breakdown of the number of dangerous occurrences, but the mines ministry initially balked at providing details of the dangerous occurrences, requested 10 days ago.

Neither B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett nor chief inspector of mines Al Hoffman were available for comment Monday.

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Alaska requests greater involvement in oversight of large B.C. gold mine – by James Keller (Globe and Mail – August 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 Canadian Press – The state of Alaska has taken the rare step of asking the Canadian government for greater involvement in the approval and regulation of a controversial mine in northwestern British Columbia amid growing concern that the project could threaten American rivers and fish.

Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources outlined its request in a letter this week to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which has been reviewing the proposed KSM gold and copper mine, owned by Seabridge Gold Inc. The project has already been approved by B.C.

“The state of Alaska has important obligations to our citizens relating to the protection of fish, wildlife, waters and lands that we hold in trust,” says the state’s letter, signed by three senior bureaucrats.

They request in the letter that the state be involved in the authorization and permitting process for the KSM mine, the development of enforcement provisions in those permits, and the development of monitoring programs for water quality and dam safety.

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After Mount Polley, a Recipe for Better Mines – by Maura Forrest (The Tyee.ca – August 25, 2014)

Science-focused journalist Maura Forrest is pursuing a master’s degree at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism and is completing a practicum at The Tyee. http://thetyee.ca/

Yes, we can create a more responsible, even sustainable industry.

Could the Mount Polley disaster have been prevented? It’s a difficult question to answer, with an independent investigation of the tailings dam breach just getting underway.

Certainly, concerns about the engineering of the tailings dam and the recent decline in mine inspections suggest the incident was not entirely unpredictable.

But if we change the question — if we look ahead and ask how similar accidents can be avoided — answers are easier to come by. And they indicate it’s not only tailings ponds that need to be changed; it’s our whole approach to mining.

Anna Johnston works at Vancouver-based West Coast Environmental Law to advance law reform proposals. She believes the philosophy of the mining industry needs a fundamental rethinking. “We need to have sustainability as the goal, not just minimizing harm,” she said.

Johnston said B.C.’s mining policy needs “a pretty serious overhaul,” starting at the very beginning of the process, when companies stake their claims to mineral rights.

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Alberta riled by Leonardo DiCaprio’s position on oil sands – by Ingrid Peritz (Globe and Mail – August 24, 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.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is ruffling feathers in Alberta after becoming the latest celebrity to visit the province and shine a critical spotlight on Canada’s oil sands.

Both the Alberta government and the oil industry came to the defence of the oil sands after Mr. DiCaprio travelled Friday to Fort McMurray, the heart of the oil-sands industry, as well as to the small community Fort Chipewyan, which has drawn world attention to health and environmental concerns.

The purpose of the trip was to reportedly research a documentary, but The Wolf of Wall Street actor has already staked a high-profile position as an environmentalist and critic of big oil. A video released last week, narrated by Mr. DiCaprio, warns about climate change and depicts the fossil-fuel industry as a robotic monster stomping over the Earth.

“They drill, they extract, making trillions of dollars,” Mr. DiCaprio says about the industry, in the video titled ‘Carbon’. “We must fight to keep this carbon in the ground.”

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Donlin gold mine brings hope of jobs — and fear of destruction – by Lisa Demer (Alaska Dispatch News – August 23, 2014)

http://www.adn.com/

DONLIN GOLD WORK CAMP — On a remote ridge in the big, open space between Bethel and Anchorage, where the land and minerals are owned by Alaska Native corporations, developers want to cut deep into the earth to extract microscopic bits of gold.

The Donlin Gold project is moving quietly forward. Backers are seeking key government permissions and trying to secure the trust of local residents.

Developers say the mine’s design will be the safest, most stable possible. A wealth of good jobs would open up in the cash-starved Western Alaska region if Donlin is developed, project sponsors say.

Still, the nature of large-scale gold mining incites anxiety and doubt among people who depend on the land and water as their sources of food.

The mine site is 10 miles from the Kuskokwim River near a salmon-producing stream, Crooked Creek. The project would disturb rock and soils laden with arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals; use cyanide in the production of the gold; bring barges loaded with diesel and other supplies upriver daily in ice-free months; and create a 2-mile-long, 1-mile-wide open pit where the hilltop used to be.

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Opinion: Connecting natural resources to our everyday lives – by Lyn Anglin (Vancouver Sun – August 22, 2014)

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

Many of us forget our reliance on raw materials

Now that the tailings spill earlier this month at the Mount Polley mine is rightly the subject of an investigation by a third-party panel of experts, British Columbians can expect to get some much-needed answers to why the mine’s tailings dam failed. The sooner we have those answers, the better.

But make no mistake; mining — done properly — will continue to be a crucial aspect of our society and our economy. While a tailings dam failure such as we just witnessed is absolutely unacceptable, responsible mining must continue.

I have often said an educational campaign is required to re-connect British Columbians to their natural resource sector and to explain how so many of the products we depend on every day are derived from this sector. It’s for this reason I agreed to chair the advisory council of the non-profit Resource Works Society, an organization dedicated to educating British Columbians about the resource sector and its important role in B.C.’s future.

It is easy to become disconnected from the importance of our natural resources. Most of us have busy lives surrounded by urban environments that appear far removed from the forestry, mining and energy extraction on which our civilization and much of our economy is based.

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Port authority OKs controversial coal-shipping facility in Metro Vancouver – by Steven Chua (Canadian Press/Canadian Business Magazine – August 21, 2014)

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

VANCOUVER – Port Metro Vancouver approved Thursday construction of a controversial coal-shipping facility on the Fraser River, over concerns from local medical health officers and area residents about air quality and the environment.

Fraser Surrey Docks was granted a permit to build the facility to handle four-million metric tonnes of coal from the U.S. Midwest each year.

Peter Xotta, vice-president of planning and operations at the port authority, said the decision was not made lightly. “We have required extensive analysis,” said Xotta. The permit decision brings to an end a process that has dragged on for almost two years.

Concerns focus mainly on the effects of coal dust on air quality and the impact on the region. Global climate change also came into play in the drawn-out debate.

Fraser Surrey Docks hired SNC Lavalin to review the proposal, and the resulting report concluded there would be no significant adverse effects to the environment or people’s health.

But in a letter last November to the company, the chief medical health officers for the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities dismissed the report’s findings.

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Raglan mine: Canada’s first industrial-scale wind and energy storage facility – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – August 22, 2014)

 http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

WASHINGTON – The decision to install a 3 MW wind turbine at Glencore’s Raglan mine came after nearly five years of careful investigation, assessment, and analysis, says Jean-Francois Verret, director of strategy, projects, and public affairs.

Because of the Arctic conditions at the mining site, which sits on the Ungava Peninsula, in Nunavik, roughly 1 800 km north of Montreal, gathering in-depth data was an essential first step.

This summer, the Raglan mine began installing its first wind turbine, manufactured by Enercon, in Germany. If all goes as planned, Verret predicts that this wind turbine would replace about 5% of the mine’s diesel consumption – or 2.4-million litres of diesel.

A project like this also holds out the promise of significant cost savings. At the Raglan mine, energy typically accounts for 18% to 23% of operating costs. If the wind pilot goes well, Raglan was considering installing additional wind turbines that could generate a total of 9 MW to 12 MW of energy, slashing the mine’s overall diesel consumption by 40%.

In 2009, Raglan launched a study to investigate options for the mine and its fully diesel-powered operations. The nickel/copper mine’s remote locale meant that it would be impossible to connect to the hydroelectric grid or to the natural gas network.

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[Canadian PM’s] Northern vision melts – by Peter Foster (National Post – August 22, 2014)

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

Trudeau is dead set against Northern Gateway, which makes it rather peculiar for him to be criticizing Harper

Media commentators, political opponents, and even Stephen Harper’s putative hosts gave the Prime Minister’s ninth annual trip to the far north a less than a rousing send off this week.

Michael Byers, the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, pointed out that the dispatch of two ice breakers to scope Canadian claims on the North Pole was – in legal terms — a fool’s errand. There was a story alleging that the Harper government had – yet again – “muzzled” its scientists from reporting record low Arctic sea ice coverage two years ago.

Then there’s the lawsuit against the Conservatives by the Nunavut Planning Commission, claiming that the Feds are trying to interfere with Nunavut affairs by, er, not providing enough cash.

The tour kicked off Thursday morning with a photo op in Whitehorse to announce money for cold weather technology. Ho hum. Meanwhile progress on major commitments such as new icebreakers, and Arctic port and research facilities, continues to flag.

As the Post’s Michael den Tandt noted earlier this week, the fact that northern achievement lags far behind aspiration has been starkly highlighted by the new belligerence of Vladimir Putin, who is pouring huge resources into the Russian Arctic.

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Opinion: Extensive safeguards already in place for B.C. mining industry – by Angela Waterman (Vancouver Sun – August 20, 2014)

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

Best practices: Tailings dam breach was an extremely rare occurrence

Angela Waterman is Vice-president of Environment and Technical Affairs at The Mining Association of British Columbia.

The breach of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley Mine is an unfortunate event that is of great concern to the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) and all our member companies, just as it is to people across Canada.

After this incident, the public, the government and the mining industry all share the same objective: to find the root cause of what happened and determine if there are changes required or actions to be taken based.

The B.C. mining industry is committed to producing the materials the world needs in a way that is safe and responsible for both people and the environment. MABC, its members, and mining associations and companies across Canada are closely following the ongoing investigation.

Tailings dams across Canada are operated under stringent regulations and are subject to frequent and rigorous inspections, and this kind of incident is extremely rare. There has not been a comparable event in Canada in over 20 years. Globally, the general statistics related to likelihood of dam failure is between one in a million and one in 100,000 per dam year.

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Nuclear watchdog requests safety checks after B.C. mine breach – by Dene Moore (CTV News/Canadian Press – August 19, 2014)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

VANCOUVER — A toxic spill from a British Columbia mine has prompted the country’s nuclear watchdog to request a series of checks at uranium facilities. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will discuss the failure of the tailings pond at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine during a meeting Wednesday.

In the interim, the commission has asked the uranium mining and milling operations it oversees to ensure that all necessary inspections and monitoring are in compliance with licence conditions.

“The recent tailings dam breach that occurred at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia on Aug. 4, 2014, has raised awareness of issues associated with tailings impoundments,” said a letter sent to Areva Resources, Cameco Corp. , Rio Algom, Willet Green Miller, P.J. Brugger and Associates, EWL Management Ltd. and Denison Mines Inc.

“This is a reminder that vigilance must be maintained by ensuring that tailings dams continue to be properly designed, constructed, operated, maintained and monitored to prevent such occurrences.”

The companies were asked to confirm that mitigation measures are in place in the event of a tailings breach. They’re also asked to confirm the safety of tailings facilities and report any identified gaps to the commission by Sept. 15.

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Editorial: Once more into the breach – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – August 20, 2014)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists.  jcumming@northernminer.com

It was another week of major developments in the fast-moving story of Imperial Metals and the massive, 15-million-tonne tailings and waste-water breach at its Mount Polley copper–gold mine in central B.C.’s Cariboo region.

One major worry amongst the general population in B.C. is that they’re looking at a Lac-Mégantic rail-disaster type of situation, where the offending company goes bankrupt soon after the incident, leaving local communities reeling and higher levels of government with the task of cleaning up the devastation and a multi-million dollar bill.

That doesn’t appear to be happening with Imperial Metals and the Mount Polley spill, as Imperial was able to flex a little of its financial muscle on Aug. 14 with the announcement that it would raise $100 million in a convertible debenture, with at least some of the funds to be directed towards the clean-up at Mount Polley.

Playing a large and leading role in the financing is Calgary-based oilsands billionaire Murray Edwards, chairman of Canadian Natural Resources and perhaps best known as a co-owner of the Calgary Flames NHL team. Among his many business ventures in Western Canada, he owns a 30% stake in Imperial Metals, which might account for less than 10% of his wealth, which was pegged by Forbes at US$2.2 billion in 2011.

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B.C. mining boom, recent tailings breach prompt environmental fears in Alaska – by James Keller (CTV News/Canadian Press – August 21, 2014)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

VANCOUVER — Heather Hardcastle has spent her life fishing for salmon at the mouth of the Taku River, which starts in a remote corner of northwestern British Columbia before dumping into the ocean near her home in Juneau, Alaska.

She was six years old when her parents bought a fishing boat. More than a decade ago, she became co-owner of Taku River Reds, a small commercial fishing outfit that ships salmon throughout the United States.

In recent years, however, Hardcastle’s attention has been focused farther upstream in B.C., where a cluster of proposed mining projects has fishermen, environmentalists, aboriginals and a handful of politicians in Alaska concerned about the potential impact on the environment in their state.

And those concerns have only been amplified by a recent mine tailings spill in central B.C., where the full impact from the disaster on aquatic life remains unclear.

“It’s one thing on paper to say that you have standards that are high, but it doesn’t matter when you have a disaster like this,” said Hardcastle, whose concerns prompted her to become involved with the environmental group Trout Unlimited.

“There’s a real lack of confidence and trust right now.”

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Canadian sues Silvercorp over ‘false imprisonment’ in China – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – August 20,2014)

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.

BEIJING — A Canadian man who spent years behind bars in China has filed a lawsuit accusing a mining company of conspiring with Chinese authorities to have him arrested and detained.

Kun Huang was an investigator for a hedge fund manager who in September, 2011, claimed that ore estimates at a Chinese mine owned by Vancouver-based Silvercorp Metals Inc. were too good to be true. Three months later, Chinese officials detained Mr. Huang at the Beijing airport, strip-searched him, seized his computer and placed him in a lengthy detention that culminated in a single-day closed-door trial and a two-year sentence for criminal defamation.

He was released on July 17, and returned to Canada the next day. Now, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Mr. Huang claims that Silvercorp masterminded his detention as a reprisal for his research, whose publication prompted a steep decline in the company’s share price.

Silvercorp, his court filing claims, effectively enlisted the local Chinese police as its “agent,” giving them money, encouragement and guidance “to falsely imprison and then later knowingly bring baseless criminal charges against Mr. Huang.”

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Mt Polley: Expert Panel Review – by Jack Caldwell (I Think Mining.com – August 18, 2014)

http://ithinkmining.com/

Jack Caldwell, P.E. has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, an M.Sc. (Eng.) in Geotechnical Engineering and a post-graduate law degree. He has over 35 years engineering experience on mining, civil, geotechnical and site remediation projects. He has worked on numerous projects throughout southern Africa, Europe, Canada and the United States.

We are heartened by today’s announcements re the Mt Polley tailings facility failure. I particular we applaud the choice of experts retained to do the engineering review.

CBC New reports as follows on this issue: “Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett says the B.C. government is setting up two separate reviews following the Mount Polley tailings pond failure earlier this month.

Bennett said Monday that:

The first review by three independent experts will investigate the failure of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine.
The second review will require all mines in British Columbia that have tailings dams to have independent experts conduct a review of their facilities and submit them to the government.

The first review will be completed and submitted to the government and the Soda Creek and Williams Lake Indian bands by Jan. 31, 2015, and the recommendations will be implemented by the government “where needed,” Bennett promised. The minister said the reviews were necessary to restore public confidence in the mining industry.

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