PHL 363 Final Paper

Located in the south-central region of British Columbia, Canada is a place called Mount Polley. Mount Polley is an open pit copper and gold mine encompassing 17,594 hectares and has a production goal of 26-29 million pounds of copper and 55-60 thousand ounces of gold for the year 2017. Although this mine has been and continues to be productive it was the site of a major environmental disaster in August 2014.

On August 4th, 2014, a tailings dam owned and operated by the Mount Polley Mining company had a breach which released over 6 billion gallons of contaminated mine waste water and tailings into nearby creeks, streams and lakes. In order to get a better understanding of how this disaster effected the environment we must first define terms to give us a clearer picture of what actually happened. In the mining industry or most industries for that matter a waste product is produced, for mines the name of the waste product is called tailings. Tailings occur when chemical or mechanical processes are used to extract the desired product from the mine ore (Engels, 2016). When extraction is used, it is never 100 percent effective or completely possible to reclaim all chemicals or reagents. Waste products from mining operations often include chemicals, minerals and processed water just to name a few, this waste is discharged as a slurry to a tailings dam (Engels, 2016). A tailings dam is a dam made from material having sufficient permeability to allow moisture to drain through over a regulated period. The dam is constructed to retain the waste-sodden, fine-grained materials which represent the waste product from a mineral processing plant (Encyclopedia n.d.). One can imagine the destruction and damage a breach of one of these dams can have on the environment after a release of over 6 billion gallons of mining waste water.

Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake are the waterbodies in the immediate vicinity to the Mount Polley mine and felt the greatest impact immediately after the disaster. The volume of water turned Hazeltine Creek into a raging muddy river and Polley Lake rose almost five feet because of this disaster. This disaster impacted tourism which the local economy relied heavily on and people working for the mine lost their jobs due to the fact the mine was shut down after the incident. The greatest impact could be the effects it has on the fish in these bodies of water but most notably the sockeye salmon that the Secwepemc Nation, a band of native Indians, used for their livelihood. With the release of metals such as cobalt, iron, zinc and copper into the water many locals are concerned with the impact this will have on the fish. Copper is harmful for aquatic life and if the fish become contaminated they then become harmful to humans. Research has shown that high levels of various types of metal still exist in the lake but could start declining over the next several months. There is hope that because Polley Lake is so deep that the contaminants will drift to the bottom of this lake and stay there. Local residents feel that there is still need for cleanup and improvement and are pressuring the government and the mining company to do more for the environment.

Over the past two years the mining company has worked toward and reached various requirements and milestones in order to have the mine return to normal operation. Most feel enough has not been done but due to the extent of this disaster but the Canadian government has enacted new mining laws and regulations. British Columbia's Minister of Energy and Mines introduced amendments to the Mines Act, RSBC 1996, c 293, aimed at strengthening the provincial government's regulatory oversight of the mining industry. Bill 8, The Mines Amendment Act ("Bill 8") proposes to increase penalties for prosecutions, allow for administrative monetary penalties and increase director and officer liability under the Mines Act (Jones, 2016). Although these are proposed amendments there is little doubt that these new regulations will not become law. What has caught the real ire of the local residents is who is to blame for this disaster and what should be the punishment. In December, 2015, the British Columbia government announced it would not lay Mines Act charges against Imperial Metals Corporation for the catastrophic dam breach at its Mount Polley mine (Boutis, 2016). The chief inspector for the government stated that although weak company practices were discovered there was no criminal intent associated with the tailing dam breach.

This may sound like great news for Imperial Mining Company and it might be but they are not out of the woods yet. A joint investigation is still in progress and is being conducted by the British Columbia Environment Management Act and the federal Fisheries Act (Boutis, 2016). The real issue associated with this disaster is who will protect and conserve the environment from future catastrophes. Imperial Mining Company is only concerned with its profits as it is looking to reopen the mine as soon as possible to begin operations. The government has not done all it can do according to local residents and businesses and the most affected participant of all, the environment, doesn’t have a method to voice its concerns. More than likely the landscape will heal itself with time and the contaminated waters will return to normal but it doesn’t mean this should drift from the memory of those who were there just because it drifted out of the front-page news.

REFERENCES:

Boutis, P. (april 11, 2016). "No Charges For Mount Polley Dam Breach, Yet." . Mondaq Business Briefing, 11.

Dams. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/technology/technology-terms-and-concepts/dam.

Jones, S. (march 8 2016). "BC Responds To Mount Polley Dam Failure With Proposed Amendments To The Mines Act.". Mondaq Business Briefing.

Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imperialmetals.com/our-operations-and-projects/operations/mount-polley-mine/overview.