Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines – Page 57

NEWS RELEASE: Interdisciplinary Research Reveals Global Trend of Tailings Dam Failures That Will Result In $6 billion in Unfunded Unfundable Public Liability 2010-2019

July 29, 2015

https://www.earthworksaction.org/

Catastrophic mine waste spills increasing in frequency, severity and cost world-wide

Click here for the full report: https://www.earthworksaction.org/files/pubs-others/BowkerChambers-RiskPublicLiability_EconomicsOfTailingsStorageFacility%20Failures-23Jul15.pdf

July 29th — On the 1st anniversary of North America’s worst mining waste spill at the Mount Polley Mine in British Columbia, a new interdisciplinary analysis reveals that such catastrophic spills are increasing in frequency, severity and cost.

The Risk, Public Liability, and Economics of Tailings Storage Facility Failures shows that modern metal mining techniques have driven the creation of increasingly more risky mine waste facilities, enabled by regulators that have failed to require best practices to minimize financial and environmental risk. These failures are almost all the result of the failure of regulatory agencies to require, and the industry’s failure to follow, known best practices.

Co-authored by Lindsay Newland Bowker, Director, Bowker Associates, Science & Research In The Public Interest, and David Chambers, Ph.D., a mining technical specialist, the report’s primary findings include:

Pollution spill at Yellow Giant gold mine sparks investigation by Environment Canada -by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – July 28, 2015)

July 29, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/

Federal agency determining possible violations of the Fisheries Act at remote island in northwest B.C.

Environment Canada has launched an investigation into a pollution spill at Banks Island Gold’s Yellow Giant mine in northwestern B.C. over potential violations of the Fisheries Act.

The B.C. government has said Environment Canada will lead the investigation, supported by the B.C. Conservation Officer Service. Environment Canada would not provide an official for an interview.

“Environment Canada’s enforcement branch is currently investigating to determine whether there have been any violations of the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act,” Environment Canada spokeswoman Barbara Harvey said in a written response. “As the investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to provide further information at this time.”

The gold mine operation 110 kilometres south of Prince Rupert was shut down earlier this month by the B.C. Energy and Mining Ministry following an order by the B.C. Ministry of Environment to stop polluting.In an interview on Tuesday, B.C.’s chief inspector of mines, Al Hoffman, said his office is co-operating with other agencies on the investigation.

Victoria shuts down Yellow Giant gold mine in northwestern B.C. over pollution spills – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – July 27, 2015)

July 28, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/

Gitxaala First Nation plans legal action against small operation, but environment ministry says risk to animals, humans minimal

The province has shut down the small Yellow Giant underground gold mine on Banks Island in northwest B.C. for spilling pollution on land and into creeks, lakes, and a wetland.

The B.C. environment ministry said the discharge reached the ocean through a creek, several beaver-dam-created wetlands and Banks Lake before entering the ocean at Surrey Bay, but it is not believed it will harm humans or animals.

The Yellow Giant incident is the latest of several mine waste spills — although much smaller in magnitude — since the catastrophic dam failure at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley gold and copper mine in August 2014. There have been small spills at the Myra Falls and Copper Mountain mines in the past year.

First Nations and conservationists are concerned about the effect of this latest spill on animals and aquatic life, including salmon, at the island located about 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert.

My Turn: One year after disaster, mining threats remain – by Aaron Angerman (Juneau Empire – July 28, 2015)

July 28, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

As a member of the Shtax’heen Kwaan (Stikine Tribe) in Wrangell, I am frightened to think that what happened at Mount Polley could happen here in our back yard now that the Red Chris Mine is operational. That the fish we’ve relied on traditionally for thousands of years could be contaminated or disappear, that the local commercial fishing industry could be decimated, and that we could see the local businesses that rely on the industry close doors.

Neither the community of Wrangell or the Stikine Tribe were consulted in the years of planning and construction upstream. Tahltan Nation is receiving financial benefits, but the waste flows immediately out of their waters and into ours. If the tailings dams were to give way at Red Chris Mine, an entire community will be left to pick up the pieces of a puzzle that will never again be whole.

The Red Chris Mine is located on the Iskut River, the largest tributary in the Stikine headwaters. Red Chris is owned by Imperial Metals, the same company responsible for Mount Polley. Red Chris is a larger operation than its sister mine, and it has tailings that are much more toxic.

Empire Editorial: Canada can say ‘no’ to mining (Juneau Empire – July 24, 2015)

July 24, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

This newspaper in the past year has questioned Canada’s mining standards, including if they exist. In light of the August 2014 failure of the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam that sent billions of gallons of toxic tailings and contaminated water into Southeast Alaska waters, there is ample reason to be concerned.

But there’s also reason to be hopeful, however, that Southeast residents’ concerns are being listened to across the border.

The recent decision by Canadian officials to send Pacific Booker Minerals, Inc., back to the drawing board to reassess its plans for the Morrison Mine, a proposed open pit copper and gold mine in the Skeena River watershed, is a promising sign for those concerned with environmental consequences down stream.

Pacific Booker Minerals was denied an Environmental Assessment certificate not once but twice, as Empire reporter Mary Catherine Martin wrote in an article published in today’s Outdoors section. The second came after the mining company sued and the BC Supreme Court asked the country’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Energy and Mines to reconsider its 2012 denial.

Our Demand For Renewable Energy Comes With Canada’s Dirty Little Secret – by Blair King (Huffington Post – July 22, 2015)

July 23, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/british-columbia/

There is something very important that most people don’t know about renewable energy technologies. While many of these technologies have existed since humanity started to harness the power of the wind and the sun to help us do work, they all owe their current capabilities to the existence of rare earth elements.

Neodymium, dysprosium, lanthanum, cerium sound like the names of some magical characters in Peter Jackson’s latest Tolkien adaptation but they’re actually the names of rare earth elements. Rare earth elements and a handful of other elements (like lithium and platinum) are the “magic” ingredients that make our modern renewable energy technologies possible.

Neodymium is secret sauce that makes high-power permanent magnets a reality. Those magnets are what allow a wind turbine to convert the power of the wind into electricity.
Dysprosium allows these permanent magnets to operate at the high temperatures critical for the operation of large wind turbines and electric vehicles.
Lanthanum and Cerium are what make catalytic converters work.

[Rare Earth Metals] The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust – by Tim Maughan (BBC.com – April 2, 2015)

July 23, 2015

http://www.bbc.com/

Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan.

From where I’m standing, the city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Between it and me, stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge.

Dozens of pipes line the shore, churning out a torrent of thick, black, chemical waste from the refineries that surround the lake. The smell of sulphur and the roar of the pipes invades my senses. It feels like hell on Earth.

Welcome to Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. I’m here with a group of architects and designers called the Unknown Fields Division, and this is the final stop on a three-week-long journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the route consumer goods take from China to our shops and homes, via container ships and factories.

MININGWATCH NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Mines Ministers Conference in Halifax – Provinces & Territories Must Act To Avoid Mine Waste Disasters

July 21, 2015

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

Click here for full recommendations in the attached letter, click here: http://www.miningwatch.ca/sites/www.miningwatch.ca/files/2015-07-20_mines_ministers_letter_0.pdf

Halifax, July 20 2015 – While Energy & Mines Ministers from across Canada are meeting in Halifax for their annual conference, a coalition of more than 50 environmental, First Nations, and community organizations today sent a letter to all Canadian Mines Ministers urging them to take immediate action to assess and prevent the threat posed by hundreds of mine waste dams and impoundments in Canada.

The groups are pressuring provincial and territorial governments in Canada to respond to the lessons learned from the August 2014 Mount Polley mine disaster in British-Columbia – the biggest mining waste spill in Canadian history.

In January 2015, the Independent Expert Review Panel on the Mount Polley failure determined that current Canadian and global standards for mine waste disposal are fundamentally flawed and that future failures at other mines are simply a matter of time.

The Expert Panel firmly rejected any notion “that business as usual can continue,” and urged the industry and all regulators to change the way mining waste facilities are designed, operated, and regulated in order to avoid any future failures:

Nexen pipeline leak in Alberta spills 5 million litres (CBC News Edmonton – July 16, 2015)

July 17, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton

Nexen Energy spill south of Fort McMurray covers about 16,000 square metres

One of the largest leaks in Alberta history has spilled about five million litres of emulsion from a Nexen Energy pipeline at the company’s Long Lake oilsands facility south of Fort McMurray.

The leak was discovered Wednesday afternoon. Nexen said in a statement its emergency response plan has been activated and personnel were onsite. The leak has been stabilized, the company said.

The spill covered an area of about 16,000 square metres, mostly within the pipeline corridor, the company said. Emulsion is a mixture of bitumen, water and sand. The pipeline that leaked is called a “feeder” and runs from a wellhead to the processing plant.

“All necessary steps and precautions have been taken, and Nexen will continue to utilize all its resources to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, the public and the environment, and to contain and clean up the spill,” the company said in the statement issued Thursday.

Zimbabwe’s desperate gold rush poisons children with mercury – by Andrew Mambondiyani (Reuters U.S. – July 13, 2015)

July 14, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

MUTARE, Zimbabwe, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Cynthia Dzimbati was exhausted. Her three-month-old baby strapped to her back and panning dish in hand, she had spent the whole day working the Mutare River for not one single ounce of gold.

“This is now my life. I lost my job,” said the 31-year old single mother, looking so worn out she could easily have passed for 50. “I have three children to feed.”

Dzimbati poured a few drops of mercury into a bowl of dirty water and stirred it with her bare hands.

The gold in the river is growing more scarce these days, she said, so the illegal artisanal miners are relying on mercury, a highly toxic substance supplied by the smugglers who buy their product, to trap the precious metal from the muddy river waters in the eastern borders of Zimbabwe.

Public health and environmental experts say the consequences are disastrous. Mercury is contaminating drinking water for miles around and causing neurological damage, especially to children.

To talk transboundary mining, Taku Tlingit put folks in the same boat – by Katie Moritz (Juneau Empire – July 13, 2015)

July 14, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

Taku Tlingit reinforce cultural ties to land in discussion on transboundary mines

Lillian Petershoare’s family fishes the Taku River and has done so for decades. A new generation is now learning the tradition. John Morris “grew up on the Taku until I was 15 years old; I knew no other place.”

Barbara Cadiente-Nelson read a passage by Elizabeth Nyman: “This river, this watershed … know who you are and, if you permit it, it will tell you.”

Tlingit men and women whose lineage can be traced to the Taku River area spoke on their connection to the water and the land during a daylong boat trip down the Taku River on Sunday. The cruise was organized by the Douglas Indian Association.

The trip was meant to “put us on the same boat” — drawing a link between Tlingit connection to the land and the need for mainstream awareness and protection of its resources, said the DIA’s Morris, addressing the diverse group of passengers on the catamaran.

Activists: Canada mine approvals threaten Alaska fishing communities – by Renee Lewis (Al Jazeera.com – July 10, 2015)

July 10, 2015

http://america.aljazeera.com/

Almost one year after an unprecedented spill from a mine tailings pond in Canada’s largely pristine province of British Columbia, its government has given the green light for the mine to reopen — worrying environmentalists who say a number of other northern B.C. copper and gold mines are in various phases of approval, and could threaten downstream fishing communities in southeastern Alaska.

The provincial government on Thursday approved a restart of Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley mine, which has been closed since its waste dam failed last August and released 6.6 billion gallons of toxic tailings including arsenic, lead and nickel into salmon-producing lakes and streams of the Fraser River watershed.

Residents of southeastern Alaska, many of whom depend on fishing and tourism for their livelihoods, expressed concern at the announcement.

“The British Columbia and Canadian governments seem to be glossing over the Mount Polley disaster by ignoring recommendations of mining experts who studied the dam failure and warned that the province should stop allowing the same risky tailings dam technology,” said an emailed statement from Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisherman from Juneau, Alaska, and campaign coordinator for Salmon Beyond Borders.

Mount Polley to re-open after last year’s disaster – by Mary Catharine Martin (Juneau Empire – July 10, 2015)

July 10, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

Two British Canadian ministries announced Thursday that they are allowing Imperial Metals Corporation to re-open Mount Polley mine after last August’s tailings dam failure, which released billions of gallons of toxic tailings and contaminated water into the Quesnel Lake watershed. Southeast Alaskans concerned about Canada’s mining boom decried the move, saying the authorization ignores detailed recommendations of an independent review panel whose report was released earlier this year.

This is the first of three steps Mount Polley will need to begin operating as it did this time last year, said Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett and Minister of Environment Mary Polak in a press release. They’ve granted the company the ability to begin conditional operations; it will not be able to release water from the site.

“In the early fall, the company will need a second conditional permit to treat and discharge water in order for operations to continue. Lastly, the company must submit a long-term water treatment and discharge plan to government by June 30, 2016. The mine will not be authorized to continue to operate long-term if it fails to complete either of the last two steps,” Bennett said in the press release.

Home Runs: Alaska’s leaders must walk their salmon talk [B.C. Mines] – by Malena Marvin (Juneau Empire – July 9, 2015)

July 9, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

Malena Marvin is the Executive Director of Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

Walk up to most houses in rural Southeast Alaska, including ours, and the first thing you see is an impossibly long row of battered XtraTuf rubber boots. There are boots for the family, the friends who stopped by to chat, extras for the summer folks who came to visit or work as crew, and probably a pair or two with mysterious origins. Together, they tell a story of a certain way of life, one lived by the tidelines and on the water, and one defined by adventure and hard work outdoors.

Wrangellite or Skagwegian, Republican or Democrat, Native or newcomer, our families are diverse. But our family values in this place do have a few common elements. Jars full of berries and fish are the obvious one. A commitment to taking care of friends and neighbors is another. I also look across the islands and fjords of our region and see that few of us are more than one degree of separation from a family whose livelihood depends on fishing or tourism dollars.

It’s in reverence to our unique way of life, to these things that unify us, that today I’m asking Gov. Bill Walker to work harder for clean water, and to walk his talk about putting Alaska’s fish first when it comes to policy.

B.C. privacy report finds no significant Mount Polley risks prior to disaster – by Dirk Meissner (CANADIAN PRESS/Vancouver Sun – July 2, 2015)

July 3, 2015

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

VICTORIA – The British Columbia government needs to “open the gates” on information that is in the public interest, says a new report into last summer’s Mount Polley mine disaster.

The report by Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said that while the government didn’t violate its legal obligations to report on conditions at the central B.C. mine before the August 2014 tailings-pond breach, it now needs to release more information because of her interpretation of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

She said her office previously interpreted Section 25(1)(b) of the act to permit only the release of information considered to be urgent, but it will now interpret the section to permit the release of information that a reasonable observer would consider in the public’s interest.

“In the past the duties or obligations to disclose information that’s clearly in the public interest was interpreted very narrowly by my predecessors. I think wrongly,” Denham said in a Thursday interview.