Enviro Disaster in Likely, BC as tailings pond breached at Mount Polley Mine

[theminister]

Local residents are calling it an environmental disaster.

A breach of the tailings pond on Mount Polley Mine sent five million cubic metres of toxic waste into Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake, with fears it could spread far and wide in the coming days.

Residents in the area, along with visitors to waterways near the Mount Polley Mine close to Likely, B.C., have been issued a complete water ban. Affecting close to 300 homes, it extends to the entire Quesnel and Cariboo River systems up to the Fraser River, including Quesnel Lake, Cariboo Creek, Hazeltine Creek and Polley Lake.

People in Quesnel are also being asked to avoid using water from the Quesnel River, and late in the day the Cariboo Regional District extended the water advisory right to the Fraser River although they said that was a precautionary measure.

There are already concerns that the total damage will be immense. The sheer volume of toxic slurry from the pond equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools caused Hazeltine Creek to expand from four feet in width to 150, and some of the sludge has already made its way into Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake.

Phil Owens, a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia and researcher with the Quesnel River Research Centre, says its impossible to know at this stage where the tailings will stop.

Once something starts, it will just cascade down through the chain, he said.

We dont know when it will stop, and we dont know when it will move through the system.

Al Richmond, the Cariboo Regional District Chair and Area G Director told Global News that clean-up is premature at this point and officials are still assessing the situation.

Our concern mainly is first of all for life and limb and theres been no one injured in this event and for that were thankful, he said. Our next concern is for the community of Likely and those folks living around Likely that their water supply is safe and potable for them to use.

The Ministry of Environment said the breach at Mount Polley Mine happened in the middle of the night on August 4. The ministry. along with the Cariboo Regional District (CRD), RCMP, Central Cariboo Search and Rescue and emergency management crews are investigating and assessing the possible environmental impact.

Mount Polley Mine is an open pit copper and gold mine, which is operated by Imperial Metals Corporation. The dam that holds back the tailings pond is an earth-filled dam.

The Horsefly Likely Forest Service Road has been washed out at Hazeltine Creek, but the Likely Bridge is not affected at this time.

Rob Hood, president of the Likely Chamber of Commerce, told Global News that the Cedar Point Provincial Park campground has also been evacuated.

There are concerns around the debris and chemicals from the tailing ponds coming down into Quesnel Lake, Hood says, where approximately 300 people get their drinking water. Others fear the billions of litres of contaminated water could pollute other water ways in the area. The alert will remain in place until test results are completed.

Likely resident, Larry Chambers says he was woken at 3 a.m. and could hear the sounds of rushing water. I could hear the roar like a 747 jet, he told Global News.

Chambers describes Polley Lake as milky green and says the flood is bringing in a ton of debris. Residents described a stench in the air and dead fish washing up.

Several employees of the mine, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, said the same tailings pond had a minor breach three months ago.

Common minerals and elements found in tailings which is the waste material left over from the extraction of metals can include: arsenic, mercury, sulfur and cyanide.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Environment told Global News that, further monitoring and testing of waterways will be required before the full extent of potential environmental impacts can be determined. Steps are being taken to put those processes in place.

Imperial Metals has issued the following statement:

Imperial Metals Corporation reports the tailings storage facility at its Mount Polley mine was breached, releasing an undetermined amount of water and tailings in the early morning of August 4. The cause of the breach is unknown at this time.

Senior company management are at the mine site and are working with mine operating personnel, local agencies, provincial ministry officials and the engineers of record to assess the extent of the breach and the impact of the released water and tailings on the surrounding area.

The Company will provide further information when confirmed and available.

[bigbadcanucks]

Just whiny environmentalists.

I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, but how about you have a drink of the affected water and tell us how you feel?

[Ovi one kenobi]

Just another example of careless,greedy corporations.

[elvis15]

He's just trolling, ignore him.

What I like to see in instances like this is research into the frequency and impact of these kinds of events in the past. Is this common on a small scale and have the companies been liable for clean up (and to what extent) previously? Was there an issue with an earth-only dam or should more precautions have been taken?

[RonMexico]

This is ugly. They really need to sock it to Imperial Metals. The government likely won't as heaven forbid you scare away big business.

[Tearloch7]

Polley Lake had THE best fly fishing in the Cariboo, and the damge to that whole water system is immeasurable .. anyone who mocks or makes fun of this situation is a cretinous clown at best .. and a fool to boot. Someone should go to prison over this kind of disaster and maybe then they would care, if they were actually held accountable.

[Standing_Tall#37]

I can't say I've ever met anyone that works there that is not an idiot. Just drove through the area and both my kids threw up and I felt ill from lac la hache till about 40 km south of Quesnel...wouldn't be surprised if some of the chemicals contaminated the air.

[inane]

I can't believe someone reported my post lol.

I made that statement sarcastically, next time I'll redflag it as obviously that. Of course this is a disaster but nothing is going to change and you're a fool if you think it will. This government will say all the right things about how they're gonna look into this and this kind of thing can't happen again and blah blah blah and then they'll turn around and tell you how great mining and LNG and all these other resource extraction plans are gonna save the economy and education and blah blah blah.

Even if this really was just an accident and not negligence or some other attributable error these accidents are going to be more and more frequent as infrastructure fails and companies pay less and less attention to maintenance of said infrastructure. And this government is not going to require anything substantive to change because that's contrary to the fundamental position of this government.

Same old same old.

[Standing_Tall#37]

I can't believe someone reported my post lol.

I made that statement sarcastically, next time I'll redflag it as obviously that. Of course this is a disaster but nothing is going to change and you're a fool if you think it will. This government will say all the right things about how they're gonna look into this and this kind of thing can't happen again and blah blah blah and then they'll turn around and tell you how great mining and LNG and all these other resource extraction plans are gonna save the economy and education and blah blah blah.

Even if this really was just an accident and not negligence or some other attributable error these accidents are going to be more and more frequent as infrastructure fails and companies pay less and less attention to maintenance of said infrastructure. And this government is not going to require anything substantive to change because that's contrary to the fundamental position of this government.

Same old same old.

There's only 2 things that make change. 1)When it happens to Vancouver. 2) when someone dies(mill explosions)

You should see how much shit my employer dumps into the river on a daily basis. But money talks

[bigbadcanucks]

This is ugly. They really need to sock it to Imperial Metals. The government likely won't as heaven forbid you scare away big business.

The investors are socking to them today...their market cap is down over $400 million on this news. Good ol' Murray Edwards, one of the owners of the Calgary Flames has seen his net worth drop over $120 million in one day over this debacle. Not likely, but lets see if the government has the cajones to make Imperial accountable for their actions.

[Dogbyte]

Good thing big business doesn't have to accountable for anything they do.

[RUPERTKBD]

The article doesn't say how the pond was breached, which is kind of important, IMO.

Did the earthen dam fail? Did the pond overflow after heavy rain? Was it possibly sabotaged? It's terrible for the people and wildlife affected in the Cariboo, but I'd really like to know why this happened, so steps can be made to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Good thing big business doesn't have to accountable for anything they do.

That doesn't sound good.

[theminister]

The article doesn't say how the pond was breached, which is kind of important, IMO.

Did the earthen dam fail? Did the pond overflow after heavy rain? Was it possibly sabotaged? It's terrible for the people and wildlife affected in the Cariboo, but I'd really like to know why this happened, so steps can be made to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

It wasn't mentioned because they aren't sure yet.

Regardless, it shouldn't ever happen.

It's their corporate responsibility to have enough redundancy in place to avoid the occurrence. What's more, it's still seeping.

[RonMexico]

The article doesn't say how the pond was breached, which is kind of important, IMO.

Did the earthen dam fail? Did the pond overflow after heavy rain? Was it possibly sabotaged? It's terrible for the people and wildlife affected in the Cariboo, but I'd really like to know why this happened, so steps can be made to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

The article reports that there was a minor breach three months ago. It's obviously not confirmed or denied but if there was a recent breach and then this happened, that's bad news for Imperial Metals.

Imperial Metals donated thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party of BC over the years. I'm very interested to see what they intend to do to a large political contributor in terms of punishment for this.

http://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/SA1Search.aspx

Search for Imperial Metals to have a look.

[BabychStache]

What was the makeup of the sludge?

[Heretic]

"Mount Polley Mine tailings breach should not have happened, Bill Bennett says"

B.C.'s minister of energy and mines says he is devoting every appropriate resource to deal with the consequences of Monday's massive failure of a mine tailings dam in B.C.'s Central Interior.

Wastewater and tailings sediment from Imperial Metals's Mount Polley copper and gold mine near Likely, B.C., has contaminated several lakes, creeks and rivers in the Cariboo region, causing officials to evacuate local campgrounds and enact a number of water-use and drinking water bans.

• IN DEPTH | Tailings ponds: What's in them and what risks do they pose?​
• MORE | Drinking water ban, environmental nightmare at tailings pond breach area
• RAW VIDEO | View from a helicopter over the tailings breach zone
• PHOTOS | 'The devastation up the lake is unbelievable'

Officials are expected to give a news conference in Likely, B.C. at 3 p.m. PT. Follow our live blog below to get updates as it happens.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-breach-should-not-have-happened-bill-bennett-says-1.2727776

[Green Building]

What was the makeup of the sludge?

From the article:

Common minerals and elements found in tailings which is the waste material left over from the extraction of metals can include: arsenic, mercury, sulfur and cyanide.

[BabychStache]

Oddly enough I own a patent on a slurry solidification stabilization process. Seems like these guys could use some help.

[Violator]

If its tailings from a gold mine then it should be just dirt and minerals nothing else the pictures I have seen look like a mudslide or a heavy rainfall.