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.