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Imperial Metals insurance likely not enough for dam collapse cleanup – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – August 12, 2014)

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

Restoration costs expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars

Imperial Metal’s $15-million property and business interruption insurance coverage is likely to fall short of the cleanup cost of the collapse of its mine waste dam at Mount Polley last week.

The company also has $10 million in third-party liability insurance, triggered if a party other than the company is responsible for damage.

While Imperial Metals says it is too early to provide a cleanup cost, the collapse of the mine waste dam in 1998 of the Los Frailes lead-zinc mine near Seville, Spain, cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Imperial Metals vice-president of corporate affairs Steve Robertson said Saturday he would be guessing at a cleanup at cost at Mount Polley. The company has, however, vowed to do all it could to “make right” the effects of the dam collapse.

“I don’t know if it’s nowhere near (enough insurance) — it would we way too early to tell,” Robertson said in an interview. A BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. analysis pegged the cost to the company at $200 million. That does not include legal damages that could double that amount.

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Gold royalty firms Franco Nevada, Sandstorm Gold team up for first time as business evolves – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 13, 2014)

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

Two mining royalty firms have teamed up in a financing deal for the first time, a signal their business is evolving and more cooperation is likely across this sector in the future.

Franco-Nevada Corp. and Sandstorm Gold Ltd. announced this week that they will jointly provide at least US$100-million to True Gold Mining Inc. for the company’s Karma gold project in Burkina Faso. The transaction has two key elements: a fixed repayment in gold, and a long-term streaming agreement in which the royalty companies will acquire a portion of the gold from Karma.

It is a small deal, but insiders said it provides a glimpse of how this business is rapidly changing as royalty deals start to resemble more conventional project financing.

The major royalty firms (Franco, Silver Wheaton Corp., Royal Gold Inc. and Sandstorm) have become an increasingly crucial source of capital for emerging mining companies over the last several years. They have stepped up and done a large number of transactions as the banks became reluctant to deal with any single-asset miners.

Traditionally, the royalty companies provided capital to miners in exchange for a passive royalty on future production. Over the last decade, they also did more active streaming deals, in which they acquired gold and silver from the projects they invested in.

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Beware Hasty, Unwise Policy Decisions After Mount Polley – by Kenneth P. Green (Huffington Post – August 12, 2014)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Kenneth P. Green – Fraser Institute Senior Director, Natural Resource Studies

The pictures coming out of northern British Columbia where the Mount Polley mine tailings pond ruptured on Aug. 4 are painful to see. The fact that the site is remote, and that only a small number of people are likely to be directly affected doesn’t mitigate the visceral pain one feels at seeing images of uprooted trees, and mud-clogged streams and rivers. Humans inherently find healthy ecosystems beautiful and degraded ecosystems painful.

One also has to sympathize with the people near Mount Polley, who have been (temporarily at least) told not to consume water from their local waterways, and who fear damages to salmon and other wildlife, and damages to their livelihoods that partly depend on tourism.

In the aftermath of such incidents, it’s normal to ask what can be done to prevent this from happening again, and indeed, such questions are not only normal, they are at the heart of how we learn as human beings.

But it’s one thing to seek to learn from a disaster and it’s another thing to incite emotional responses to promote hasty, unwise public policy actions. Despite the fact that virtually nothing was known about the cause of the Mount Polley leak, only two days after the spill, the David Suzuki Foundation had set up an automatic petition portal on their website calling on the provincial government to institute a moratorium on new mine approvals, a suggestion that would imperil a substantial part of BC’s economy. This is “ready, fire, aim” policy-making.

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Oil prices fall to 13-month low despite global conflicts – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – August 13, 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.

CALGARY — Ample crude supplies and a weak global economic outlook have pushed world oil prices to a 13-month low despite armed conflicts that have flared up in key producing regions.

Oil markets are “almost eerily calm” even as geopolitical risks abound in the Middle East and in other important energy regions, the International Energy Agency said in the August edition of its much-followed Oil Market Report.

The world is well supplied, after Saudi Arabia ramped up production past 10 million barrels a day, its highest in nearly a year, and its OPEC partner Libya eked out tentative gains. They have made up for losses in Iraq, Iran and Nigeria this summer, the IEA said. Meanwhile, North America’s oil-production renaissance has hummed along unabated.

At the same time, the IEA cut its oil-demand forecast for 2014 by 180,000 barrels a day, after crude deliveries in the Americas and Europe in the last quarter sank by 440,000 barrels a day and the global economy underperformed previous expectations. It trimmed its outlook for all-important Chinese demand growth to 2.9 per cent from 3.3 per cent.

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B.C. further rescinds water-use ban near Mount Polley mine spill – by Sunny Dhillon and Andrea Woo (Globe and Mail – August 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 — The province of British Columbia has announced that a ban on water use near the Mount Polley mine spill has been further rescinded and that fish appear to have escaped major harm – but any sense of normalcy has been offset by fear the spill could ultimately cost hundreds of area residents their jobs.

On Tuesday, a ban that at one time left up to 300 people without water to drink, bathe in or give to pets and livestock was further rescinded. Acting on positive findings in additional water tests, Interior Health said the do-not-drink order now only remains in effect for the immediate “impact zone” of the spill, where few people live.

Trevor Corneil, a medical health officer with Interior Health, said there is no reason to believe water outside the impact zone was exposed to unsafe levels of contaminants.

Environment Minister Mary Polak said “almost all” contaminants tested in water samples from Polley Lake meet federal and provincial drinking water guidelines, with the exceptions of pH and aluminum, which “slightly exceed” them.

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Achtung, Ontario! Renewables are a money pit – by Brady Yauch (National Post – August 12, 2014)

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

Germany, the model for Ontario’s wind and solar developments, now regrets its spending spree

Germany – the country on which Ontario modelled its approach to renewable energy development – has a $412-billion lesson for Ontario. That’s the amount the country has spent on subsidies in support of solar and wind energy, among other renewables, over the past 20 years, all in the push to wean the country off fossil fuel and nuclear generation.

On the surface – and according to many news sites – the program has been a success, and not just because of the 378,000 people renewables now employ.

By the end of 2012 (the most recent year for data), wind and solar provided about 13% of all German electricity consumption. Adding in hydro and biomass, renewables provided more than 23%. And in May, headline writers around the world proudly trumpeted that renewable energy provided 75% of the country’s total electricity consumption.

But scratch a bit below the surface and an entirely different picture emerges – one with households being pushed into “energy poverty” as renewable subsidies lead to soaring power bills, handouts to the country’s big businesses and exporters so they can avoid paying for those subsidies and a systematic bankrupting of traditional utilities. As for that one day in May when headlines celebrated that 75% of power generation came from renewables, well, it was a Sunday when demand for power is at its lowest level.

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Mount Polley dam breach not an environmental disaster: Mines Minister Bill Bennett – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – August 12, 2014)

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

But First Nations, residents and environmentalists have ongoing concerns

B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett says the Mount Polley tailings dam collapse is not an environmental disaster, equating it to the “thousands” of avalanches that happen annually in B.C. Bennett, pointing to initial positive water readings, asserted his contention will be proven in the next several weeks.

Central B.C. First Nations, some area residents and Williams Lake mayor Kerry Cook have described the collapse of the dam as an “environmental disaster.”

The Aug. 4 collapse of a 300-metre section of the gravel and earth dam spewed 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of finely ground up rock containing potentially toxic metals into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake.

While the water readings in Quesnel Lake and Quesnel River have been positive, some residents, First Nations and environmentalists have raised concerns over the long-term effects of the sludge that poured into Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake. It will also take longer to determine the environmental effects of the spill, including on salmon, they say.

Bennett acknowledged the dam collapse may be a mining industry, a geotechnical and a political disaster. But he said that has to be separated from the environmental effects.

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First Nations worry Mount Polley impact not as benign as claimed (CBC News British Columbia – August 11, 2014)

 

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

Aboriginal and environmental groups seek independent testing of lakes, rivers

First Nations whose traditional territories have been spoiled by the Mount Polley tailings pond failure are seeking independent reviews of environmental testing already underway.

“We are going to be looking at getting independent scientists and people to help us determine whether if the disaster is as benign as they say, said Bev Sellars, Chief of the Xatsull First Nation, or Soda Creek Indian Band. “We don’t believe it is.”

The Chief of the Williams Lake Indian Band is taking also exception to the controlled release of water in Polley Lake into Hazeltine Creek. The runoff was approved after tests confirmed water quality close to historically safe levels.

“I don’t know that anybody knows the safety of the water testing that they’re doing right now is surface,” said Chief Ann Louie. “What about the sediments? I keep saying the plug that’s sitting in front of Polley Lake is huge.”

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Tsilhqot’in Nation case: What it means for resource development in Ontario – by Tracy A. Pratt and Neal J. Smitheman (Mining Markets – August 11, 2014)

http://www.miningmarkets.ca/

On June 26, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia case (2014 SCC 44). The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the British Columbia trial judge’s findings on Aboriginal title and granted Aboriginal title to 2% of the Tsilhqot’in Nation traditional territory. This is the first decision in Canada granting Aboriginal title.

Background

The Tsilhqot’in Nation commenced an action in British Columbia claiming, among other things, Aboriginal title to a large tract of land representing approximately 5% of its traditional territory. The Tsilhqot’in Nation was a semi-nomadic Aboriginal grouping of six bands which shared a common culture and history. The people of the Tsilhqot’in Nation lived in mountain villages. Within their traditional territory they hunted, trapped and collected roots and herbs. Approximately 200 Tsilhqot’in Nation members still live in the area.

After 339 days of trial over five years, and having heard voluminous evidence from Tsilhqot’in Nation elders, historians and other experts, the trial judge found that Aboriginal title was proven for 190,000 hectares. The trial judge ruled, however, that because the action was pleaded as an “all or nothing” proposition and Aboriginal title was not established over the entire claim area, the court could not make a declaration of Aboriginal title.

The British Court of Appeal overruled the trial judge by finding that the action was pleaded sufficiently to permit the court to declare Aboriginal title to less than the full area claimed. Unlike the trial judge, however, the appeal court found that Aboriginal title had not been established. The Supreme Court of Canada disagreed.

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Mount Polley Mine — Maybe if we tried putting red tape on the breach – by Pete McMartin (Vancouver Sun – August 11, 2014)

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

It’s quiet out there. Perhaps it’s chagrin. Perhaps it’s the nausea caused by the prospect of a stock plummet. But in the muddy wake of Mount Polley, you don’t hear much noise emanating from the mining industry and its government acolytes.

Yes, Mines Minister Bill Bennett assured us the disaster has caused him to lose sleep. (Poor man! Would that he was awake earlier on his watch.)

And the Mining Association of B.C., in response to Mount Polley, has affected an air of scientific curiosity, as coroners might at an autopsy. It is waiting, as was explained to the public, to see what caused the containment pond breach. Meanwhile, Angela Waterman, the association’s vice-president of environment and technical affairs, endeavoured to dampen the disaster’s impact by referring to it as “an anomaly.” (As in, “Hey, the tsunami was just an anomaly.”)

In the past, the mining industry wasn’t so shy about making noise. For years, it complained loudly and often about government interference. It’s what Jessica Clogg, the executive director and senior counsel of West Coast Environmental Law, called “the steady drumbeat for deregulation.”

Both federal and provincial governments got the message. New regimes of deregulation followed. So, eventually, did “an anomaly.”

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First Nations youth mining camp expands – by Scott Larson (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – August 8, 2014)

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

When Reneya Lemaigre arrived last year at the inaugural Mining Matters Mining Rocks Earth Sciences Camp she didn’t know anyone and didn’t know what to expect.

But it didn’t take long for the teenager from Clearwater River Dene Nation to shrug off her fears and have a great time at Christopher Lake’s The Quest camp.

“The staff were really nice and comforted me,” Reneya said. “After the first day I was fine for the rest of the week.” “She started meeting new friends and when the day came for her to go home, she didn’t want to go,” added her mother, Rana Janvier.

The pair are once again making the six-hour drive this weekend from Clearwater River to Christopher Lake to attend the mining camp that will have about 30 teens attend this year.

The camp is put on with the sponsorship of six junior mining companies – Foran Mining Corp., Masuparia Gold Corp., NexGen Energy Inc., Alpha Exploration Inc., Fission Uranium Corp. and North Arrow Minerals – and PDAC Mining Matters. “The program is expanding,” said Barbara Green Parker, PDAC’s manager of Aboriginal Education and Outreach Programs.

They had 18 kids attend last year and expect about 30 this year – from Amisk (Denare Beach), Pelican Narrows, Buffalo Narrows, Clearwater River Dene Nation and Deschambault.

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We need to refine our oil sands ambitions – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – August 11, 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.

Click here for the Canadian Academy of Engineering’s policy document: http://www.cae-acg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CANADA-July9.pdf

In June, a ship carrying about 600,000 barrels of crude from Alberta’s oil sands arrived in Bilbao, Spain, by way of Houston, Tex. The circuitous journey by rail and tanker to Spanish oil giant Repsol’s Bilbao refinery made economic sense, given the price discount on Canadian crude.

Despite European hostility toward “dirty” oil from Canada, refiners there may look more to Alberta for supply as price differentials and sanctions on Russia whet their appetite for cheaper grades from across the pond. But what looks like just another market opportunity for Alberta producers is also a telling example of Canada’s failure to maximize the value of its resources.

The promoters of pipeline projects in various stages of development insist the completion of these conduits is the key to eliminating transportation bottlenecks that have depressed the price of so-called Western Canadian Select oil. And while that is partly true, the “success” of these projects would still mean the export of unprocessed Alberta bitumen beyond our borders.

The skilled jobs, technological development and economic activity involved in upgrading our oil resources into value-added petroleum products would still occur outside Canada.

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Tailings pond spill: What happens to effluent over time – by By Matt Kwong (CBC News British Columbia – August 08, 2014)

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

Toxic slurry from mining operations often buried, revegetated after mines close, experts say after B.C. breach

Tailings — the slurry of water, finely ground rock, ore and chemical byproducts washed away during the mining process — never quite go away. The same goes for the risk of failure for even the best-engineered “tailings impoundment” dams, environmental experts say.

A sobering reminder came in the form of an environmental catastrophe this week in B.C. when the tailings pond overseen by Imperial Metals breached, spilling five million cubic metres of effluent into the Quesnel-Cariboo river system.

Asked by CBC’s Chris Hall how long it might take to eventually restore affected areas to their natural state, Ramsey Hart of MiningWatch Canada gave a grim assessment.

“I don’t think it will ever entirely be cleaned up,” said Hart, who researches mining issues, including waste management, the impacts of mining on aquatic ecosystems, and mining and indigenous rights.

Manmade tailings ponds, or reservoirs that use natural geologic features such as valleys or lakes to contain the mine waste, store the tailings solids in water to prevent their exposure to oxygen.

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One wedding ring’s journey from makeshift mine to fiancée’s finger – by Marco Chown Oved (Toronto Star – August 9, 2014)

 

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

A Star reporter follows gold from a makeshift mine shaft on the edge of the Sahara desert all the way to his wedding ceremony, showing how dangerous practices continue in West Africa.

When I walk down the aisle this month, as is tradition, I’ll slide a gold band around my bride’s finger and then she’ll put one on mine.

But we didn’t pick out prefabricated rings at a local jewelry shop. Instead, they’re made from gold hammered out of the rock by barefoot miners in northern Burkina Faso, melted down in a shack in western Ghana and fashioned by a local jeweller in Ottawa.

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Tailings Ponds are the Biggest Environmental Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of – by Peter Moskowitz (Vice News – August 8, 2014)

https://news.vice.com/

The scale is hard to imagine: gray sludge, several feet deep, gushing with the force of a fire hose through streams and forest—coating everything in its path with ashy gunk. What happened on Monday might have been one of North America’s worst environmental disasters in decades, yet the news barely made it past the Canadian border.

Last Monday, a dam holding waste from the Mount Polley gold and copper mine in the remote Cariboo region of British Columbia broke, spilling 2.6 billion gallons of potentially toxic liquid and 1.3 billion gallons of definitely toxic sludge out into pristine lakes and streams. That’s about 6,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water and waste containing things like arsenic, mercury, and sulphur. Those substances are now mixed into the water that 300 people rely on for tap, hundreds from First Nations tribes rely on for hunting and fishing, and many others rely on for the tourism business.

“It’s an environmental disaster. It’s huge,” said Chief Ann Louie of the Williams Lake Indian Band, whose members live in the Cariboo region and use the land for hunting and fishing. “The spill has gone down Hazeltine Creek, which was 1.5 meters wide and is 150 meters wide… The damage done to that area, it’ll never come back. This will affect our First Nations for years and years.”

The waste came from a “tailings pond,” an open-air pit that mines use to store the leftovers of mining things like gold, copper, and, perhaps most notably in Canada, the tar sands—the oil-laden bitumen composites that have made the Keystone XL Pipeline so controversial.

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