Tag Archives: Imperial Metals

British Columbia: Mount Polley mine disaster 5 years later; emotions, accountability unresolved

People are swimming and fishing in Quesnel Lake five years after the largest environmental mining disaster in Canadian history, but residents of Likely, B.C., are still struggling with unresolved emotions about what happened and who will be held accountable for the dam collapse at the Mount Polley mine. A five-year deadline for federal Fisheries Act charges expired Sunday, while the possibility of other charges under the same act remains with no timeline for a decision. British Columbia missed the three-year deadline to proceed with charges under both the province’s Environmental Management Act and Mines Act. >click to read<21:47

Scary lessons for Bristol Bay from recent B.C. mine-waste accident

For millennia, humanity’s insatiable appetite for valuable metals has degraded the integrity of ecosystems that provide habitat for the world’s wildlife, and the clean water and food humans need to thrive. During the past decade, proposals have emerged to develop several mega-mines on the North America’s West Coast on some of our largest free-flowing rivers that produce much of the world’s wild salmon. Read the rest here 07:52

Mount Polley mine: sediment near spill may harm fish – B.C. tailings dam breach sent millions of cubic metres of wastewater and silt spilling into lakes and rivers

“All the raw data from the tests has been shared with First Nations and Interior Health,” said Polak. “The results were tested at an independent lab in Vancouver and show that the sediment poses no human health risk. However, it may pose adverse effects on aquatic life and it exceeds B.C. guidelines for sediments and contaminated sites regulation standards for copper and iron.” Read more here 10:17

Mount Polley mine spill: fish safe to eat, water ban mostly lifted – Neskonlith Indian Band band issues eviction notice to Imperial Metals

A drinking water ban that followed a mine tailings spill in British Columbia was mostly lifted Tuesday and fish from the area were declared safe to eat — the latest signs that health officials believe the spill won’t have a significant impact on people or aquatic life. Read more here 10:16