Tailings pond at mine in Cariboo region breached; toxic waste sent into waterways, roads

QUESNEL (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver-based mining company at the centre of an unfolding environmental drama in central British Columbia says the situation has stabilized.

Imperial Metals Corporation (III-TSX) says it is relieved there have been no deaths or injuries in the wake of the tailings dam breach at the Mount Polley Mine, an open pit gold and copper mine, about 140km southeast of Quesnel.

In a statement posted early this morning, Imperial Metals says the cause of the breach is unknown and there was no indication of trouble before a section of the earthen dam crumbled before dawn on Monday.

According to the company, the damaged area is relatively small, compared to the size of the tailings pond, and officials are still trying to determine the exact amount of water and mining-related chemicals released.

Cariboo Regional District Chairman Al Richmond expects another update this afternoon and says little has changed since water restrictions affecting Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Cariboo Creek were extended late Monday to include the Quesnel River up to its intersection with the Fraser River.

The regional district estimates the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic swimming pools of mining waste gushed into Hazeltine Creek, tearing a swath as much as 45 metres wide down the previously metre-wide waterway.

Bill Bennett, the minister for Energy and Mines in BC, says he was personally horrified when he heard about what happened. “We’re going to have to figure out how it happened so that it doesn’t happen again. In the meantime, we have to make sure the water that people are using is safe.”

“We don’t know the quality of the water that was in the tailings pond, I’m advised it was fairly high-quality water. I hope that turns out to be the case,” he adds.

An environmental consultant who examined the tailings pond says the storage facility was growing at an unsustainable rate.

Brian Olding says the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond was getting bigger and bigger over the years as more tailings and precipitation flowed in to it.

He says mine owner Imperial Metals was building the walls of the storage dam higher and higher to hold back the contaminated water.

Olding says Imperial Metals was seeking a permit to treat and release some of the water to keep the size of the pond in check.

Matt McCracken, owns Morehead Lake Cabins and Campsite near Lively, which is roughly 14 kilometres away from the mine.

He says he’s never seen anything like this happen before.

“I don’t think very many people have ever seen something like this happen. It’s pretty dramatic. Everything up at that mine is on a massive scale. Everything’s big, I mean, the photos you see of a big bulldozer on the top of part of that tailings pond, well that’s a huge bulldozer, that’s like a D-10 bulldozer, I mean, you stand beside that and it’s huge. It looks like a little toy. It’s a big deal, yeah, it’s gonna last a long time, this problem,” he says.

McCracken adds, there is a feeling of unrest and uneasiness among people who live there.

“No one knows yet what’s gonna happen. None of the environmental studies and government officials have actually said what’s actually happened, the quality of the water, the quality of the economic spinoffs are very, very big, so that’s gonna hurt people. People don’t have a job possibly. I know that a lot of the miners here, they were sent home. ”

He says along with environmental impacts, will come economic ones as well.

“Just not here, but Williams Lake area, spinoff all the different machines shops and vendors that supply nuts and bolts, fuel. You know there’s two huge tanker trucks that go to that mine every day for fuel. Well that won’t happen. BC Hydro will affect them. The amount of power they use is huge. They burn like about $8,000 worth of hydro a day, you know, so yeah, there is economical spinoffs, yeah.”

McCracken says the government needs to help out.

“You know, they’re not just gonna be shut down because the government realizes wow, that’s a lot of people that work there. We can’t just shut them down, fine them, and put them out of business, they’ve gotta help them, it’s not just their fault or their problem, the government has to help out too because they regulate how they operate. There’s huge books and books and books of regulations for them that they have to follow right? So, I would have to say, it’s not just Imperial Metals — it is their problem — but they need help and it’s also a government kind of problem as well , they’ve gotta put some money in there as well, which I’m sure they will, to, help out.”