BC Tailings Pond Spills Millions Of Litres Into Lake

[Anonymous]

Contrary to what some people believe, tailings ponds are not confined to just one smal region of Canada. I don't believe this unfortunate mistake will be deadly. However, the company could have taken better precautions, but it is not to late to get it right. Mines produce something we all need and provide good jobs for British Columbians.

An estimated 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of toxic waste — equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — spilled into Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake when the tailings pond failed early Monday morning. The waste water has caused Hazeltine Creek to expand from just over one metre to nearly 46 metres.



"Polley Lake rose about 1.5 metres above its normal height and steps are being taken to pump some of that water into the springer pit so we can start dropping that water level back to normal," says Kynoch.



everal employees of the mine, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, have told Global News the same tailings pond had a minor breach three months ago.



But Kynoch says the dam has never failed before.



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.



"We have never detected mercury in the tailings pond at Mount Polley," says Kynoch. "There's no mercury there."



"Another one I've heard talked about is arsenic. Arsenic levels are one-fifth of drinking water."



He adds that the company regularly performs toxicity tests on the water in their tailings facility and it is not toxic to rainbow trout, which spawn there.



READ MORE: Tailings pond breach has local eco-tour operators concerned



An Environment Canada filing from Mount Polley Mine lists all the substances disposed of in the tailings pond – including manganese, cadmium, phosphorous and mercury.



But it is not known how mobile those substances are.



Substances listed as disposed "on-site" in Imperial Metals' 2013 Mount Polley Mine report (Note: It's unclear how mobile these solids were, how much was in water, if any, and how much spilled as solids, if any)



Phosphorus – 41,640 tonnes

Manganese – 20,988 tonnes

Copper – 18,413 tonnes

Vanadium – 5,047 tonnes

Zinc – 2,169 tonnes

Cobalt – 475 tonnes

Nickel – 326 tonnes

Antimony – 14 tonnes

Arsenic – 406,122 kg

Lead – 177,041 kg

Selenium – 46,136 kg

Cadmium – 6,487 kg

Mercury – 3,114 kg

Kynoch says "Imperial accepts that it is our responsibility to put this right."



"Our first priority was, and continues to be, the health and safety of our employees and our neighbours. So we have to work hard to make sure we don't hurt anyone," he adds.



"If you had asked me two weeks ago if that could happen, I would say it couldn't happen."



Since the news of the tailings pond breach, the shares of Imperial Metals Corporation have dropped 42 per cent.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water ... president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/

[RW]

This is the problem.  No one means for this stuff to happen but it isn't uncommon in the least.

[Anonymous]

This is the problem.  No one means for this stuff to happen but it isn't uncommon in the least.

Planes can crash, ships can sink, trucks can get in accidents, trains can derail, infrastructure like bridges can collapse. At least nobody was hurt(that I'm aware of). The toxic waste can and will be cleaned up. Sports fishermen and holidayers don't like things like mines, factories and pulp mills, but they provide much better jobs than pandering to tourists.



BTW, how far is that mine from your place?

[Anonymous]

Contrary to what some people believe, tailings ponds are not confined to just one smal region of Canada. I don't believe this unfortunate mistake will be deadly. However, the company could have taken better precautions, but it is not to late to get it right. Mines produce something we all need and provide good jobs for British Columbians.

An estimated 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of toxic waste — equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — spilled into Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake when the tailings pond failed early Monday morning. The waste water has caused Hazeltine Creek to expand from just over one metre to nearly 46 metres.



"Polley Lake rose about 1.5 metres above its normal height and steps are being taken to pump some of that water into the springer pit so we can start dropping that water level back to normal," says Kynoch.



everal employees of the mine, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, have told Global News the same tailings pond had a minor breach three months ago.



But Kynoch says the dam has never failed before.



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.



"We have never detected mercury in the tailings pond at Mount Polley," says Kynoch. "There's no mercury there."



"Another one I've heard talked about is arsenic. Arsenic levels are one-fifth of drinking water."



He adds that the company regularly performs toxicity tests on the water in their tailings facility and it is not toxic to rainbow trout, which spawn there.



READ MORE: Tailings pond breach has local eco-tour operators concerned



An Environment Canada filing from Mount Polley Mine lists all the substances disposed of in the tailings pond – including manganese, cadmium, phosphorous and mercury.



But it is not known how mobile those substances are.



Substances listed as disposed "on-site" in Imperial Metals' 2013 Mount Polley Mine report (Note: It's unclear how mobile these solids were, how much was in water, if any, and how much spilled as solids, if any)



Phosphorus – 41,640 tonnes

Manganese – 20,988 tonnes

Copper – 18,413 tonnes

Vanadium – 5,047 tonnes

Zinc – 2,169 tonnes

Cobalt – 475 tonnes

Nickel – 326 tonnes

Antimony – 14 tonnes

Arsenic – 406,122 kg

Lead – 177,041 kg

Selenium – 46,136 kg

Cadmium – 6,487 kg

Mercury – 3,114 kg

Kynoch says "Imperial accepts that it is our responsibility to put this right."



"Our first priority was, and continues to be, the health and safety of our employees and our neighbours. So we have to work hard to make sure we don't hurt anyone," he adds.



"If you had asked me two weeks ago if that could happen, I would say it couldn't happen."



Since the news of the tailings pond breach, the shares of Imperial Metals Corporation have dropped 42 per cent.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water ... president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/

shitty

[Anonymous]

Contrary to what some people believe, tailings ponds are not confined to just one smal region of Canada. I don't believe this unfortunate mistake will be deadly. However, the company could have taken better precautions, but it is not to late to get it right. Mines produce something we all need and provide good jobs for British Columbians.

An estimated 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of toxic waste — equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — spilled into Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake when the tailings pond failed early Monday morning. The waste water has caused Hazeltine Creek to expand from just over one metre to nearly 46 metres.



"Polley Lake rose about 1.5 metres above its normal height and steps are being taken to pump some of that water into the springer pit so we can start dropping that water level back to normal," says Kynoch.



everal employees of the mine, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, have told Global News the same tailings pond had a minor breach three months ago.



But Kynoch says the dam has never failed before.



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.



"We have never detected mercury in the tailings pond at Mount Polley," says Kynoch. "There's no mercury there."



"Another one I've heard talked about is arsenic. Arsenic levels are one-fifth of drinking water."



He adds that the company regularly performs toxicity tests on the water in their tailings facility and it is not toxic to rainbow trout, which spawn there.



READ MORE: Tailings pond breach has local eco-tour operators concerned



An Environment Canada filing from Mount Polley Mine lists all the substances disposed of in the tailings pond – including manganese, cadmium, phosphorous and mercury.



But it is not known how mobile those substances are.



Substances listed as disposed "on-site" in Imperial Metals' 2013 Mount Polley Mine report (Note: It's unclear how mobile these solids were, how much was in water, if any, and how much spilled as solids, if any)



Phosphorus – 41,640 tonnes

Manganese – 20,988 tonnes

Copper – 18,413 tonnes

Vanadium – 5,047 tonnes

Zinc – 2,169 tonnes

Cobalt – 475 tonnes

Nickel – 326 tonnes

Antimony – 14 tonnes

Arsenic – 406,122 kg

Lead – 177,041 kg

Selenium – 46,136 kg

Cadmium – 6,487 kg

Mercury – 3,114 kg

Kynoch says "Imperial accepts that it is our responsibility to put this right."



"Our first priority was, and continues to be, the health and safety of our employees and our neighbours. So we have to work hard to make sure we don't hurt anyone," he adds.



"If you had asked me two weeks ago if that could happen, I would say it couldn't happen."



Since the news of the tailings pond breach, the shares of Imperial Metals Corporation have dropped 42 per cent.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water ... president/">http://globalnews.ca/news/1493170/water-from-breached-tailings-pond-near-likely-b-c-almost-drinkable-imperial-metals-president/

Oh this is terrible..

 :(

I hope for the sake of local residents any harmful byproducts are removed and no harm comes to any people.

[RW]

This is the problem.  No one means for this stuff to happen but it isn't uncommon in the least.

Planes can crash, ships can sink, trucks can get in accidents, trains can derail, infrastructure like bridges can collapse. At least nobody was hurt(that I'm aware of). The toxic waste can and will be cleaned up. Sports fishermen and holidayers don't like things like mines, factories and pulp mills, but they provide much better jobs than pandering to tourists.



BTW, how far is that mine from your place?

I understand the job perspective and I don't jump up and down over mining like some.  The trouble is, to you and so many others reading this story it's a "clean up on aisle 2" situation.  It's not that simple.  There will be no reversing this completely and that's the thing some people don't seem to understand.  You can't just take it back.  This is why people don't want these industries.



It's far north of me.  I'm about as south as you can get without being an American.

[Romero]

This wouldn't have happened if we were allowed to build that toxic tailings pond pipeline to Alberta!



Disasters like this are only becoming more common because these companies only care about profits. Rarely a day goes by now without hearing about leaks and spills.

Concerns raised in a report three years before a massive tailings pond breached at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine in central British Columbia were "basically ignored," said a First Nations leader whose territory has been soiled by the disaster.



Bev Sellers, chief of the Xatsull First Nation, also known as the Soda Creek Indian Band, said many members of her band were in tears when they learned of Monday's release of a slurry of contaminated water and mine waste into several local waterways.



"Because they know the destruction that's going to happen from this breach. It's just a real sad day," she said in an interview Tuesday.



http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/warnings-about-b-c-tailings-pond-growth-ignored-before-collapse/">//http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/warnings-about-b-c-tailings-pond-growth-ignored-before-collapse/

The company also said, "Monitoring instruments and onsite personnel had no indication of an impending breach."



But Brian Olding, an environmental consultant who examined the Mount Polley mine tailings pond, says the storage facility was growing at an unsustainable rate.



He says Imperial Metals was building the walls of the storage dam higher and higher to hold back the contaminated water, and was seeking a permit to treat and release some of the water to keep the size of the pond in check.



http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/05/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond_n_5651680.html?ir=Canada+British+Columbia">//http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/05/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond_n_5651680.html?ir=Canada+British+Columbia

The president of Imperial Metals says the water from the tailing pond was "very close to drinking water quality". Really? The pond had 26 tonnes of nickel, over 400,000 kilograms of arsenic, 177,000 kilograms of lead and 18,400 tonnes of copper in it. Who wants Kool-Aid?

[Anonymous]

I understand the job perspective and I don't jump up and down over mining like some.  The trouble is, to you and so many others reading this story it's a "clean up on aisle 2" situation.  It's not that simple.  There will be no reversing this completely and that's the thing some people don't seem to understand.  You can't just take it back.  This is why people don't want these industries.

Actually, it can and will be if done right. All those nasty-ass toxic chemicals you saw listed can occur almost anywhere. They are concentrated when they come out as waste from a mine's tailings pond. Once the sediment settles and is separated from the water rainbow trout(yuck, worst fish I have ever eaten), will not even have this season's spawn interrupted.



It really is much ado about nothing. I can think of so many more potential environmental problems than this one that do NOT get covered by the press.

[Anonymous]

Romero wrote:

This wouldn't have happened if we were allowed to build that toxic tailings pond pipeline to Alberta!



Disasters like this are only becoming more common because these companies only care about profits. Rarely a day goes by now without hearing about leaks and spills.

      Disaster?? Good Gawd man, get a hold of yourself. The Malaysian airliner shot down was a disaster.



BTW, Albertans are not trying to build a tailings pond pipeline to the West Coast. There isn't much of a market for metals-laden sand.



Nobody was killed, injured or even sick. The only people this is a disaster for are Imperial Metals shareholders like union pension funds that invest heavily in companies. With the exception of temporary potable water restrictions for local residents, this isn't even a boo boo.



The only people that see this as a disaster and refuse to acknowledge how much these industries contribute to Canada are hyper-rich enviro NGO's that want to see all Canadian industry leave this country.

.

The president of Imperial Metals says the water from the tailing pond was "very close to drinking water quality". Really? The pond had 26 tonnes of nickel, over 400,000 kilograms of arsenic, 177,000 kilograms of lead and 18,400 tonnes of copper in it. Who wants Kool-Aid?

Romero,



Those are the metals-laden sand waste disposed of for the entire year of 2013. It was not released into a lake for Gawd's sake. It's the government's fault this happened because they would not issue a permit to the mine to drain excess water into Hazeltine Creek.



In filings made to Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory in 2013 — which is only one year's worth of data, but gives some idea of what the mine's byproducts are — Imperial Metals recorded disposing of quantities of arsenic, lead, manganese, cobalt, mercury and other harmful mining byproducts.



Mount Polley mine on-site disposal in 2013:



Arsenic (and its compounds): 406 tonnes

Lead (and its compounds) 177 tonnes

Nickel (and its compounds) 326 tonnes

Vanadium (except when in an alloy): 5,047 tonnes

Zinc (and its compounds): 2,169 tonnes

Cadmium (and its compounds): 6 tonnes

Cobalt (and its compounds): 475 tonnes

Phosphorus (total): 41,640 tonnes

Copper (and its compounds): 18,413 tonnes

Antimony (and its compounds) 14 tonnes

Manganese (and its compounds): 20,988 tonnes

Mercury (and its compounds): 3 tonnes

Selenium (and its compounds): 46 tonnes

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-water-very-close-to-drinking-quality-company-says-1.2727776">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2727776">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-water-very-close-to-drinking-quality-company-says-1.2727776

[RW]

I understand the job perspective and I don't jump up and down over mining like some.  The trouble is, to you and so many others reading this story it's a "clean up on aisle 2" situation.  It's not that simple.  There will be no reversing this completely and that's the thing some people don't seem to understand.  You can't just take it back.  This is why people don't want these industries.

Actually, it can and will be if done right. All those nasty-ass toxic chemicals you saw listed can occur almost anywhere. They are concentrated when they come out as waste from a mine's tailings pond. Once the sediment settles and is separated from the water rainbow trout(yuck, worst fish I have ever eaten), will not even have this season's spawn interrupted.



It really is much ado about nothing. I can think of so many more potential environmental problems than this one that do NOT get covered by the press.

Yeah they said that here too and now the Americans are complaining about higher cancer rates and other unexplainable disorders.  I know people who have challenged kids from heavy metal poisoning.



I grew up near tailing ponds.  I've seen them with my own eyes.  I've heard about them leeching many many times.  



The effects of these types of accidents are wide spread and long term.  You are deluding yourself if you think otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Yeah they said that here too and now the Americans are complaining about higher cancer rates and other unexplainable disorders.  I know people who have challenged kids from heavy metal poisoning.



I grew up near tailing ponds.  I've seen them with my own eyes.  I've heard about them leeching many many times.  



The effects of these types of accidents are wide spread and long term.  You are deluding yourself if you think otherwise.

Perhaps you can provide evidence to show where elevated exposure to metals in from abandoned tailings ponds in SE BC were above levels where there would be a potential concern for human health? I realize BC does not have the same strict standards as Alberta when it comes to reclamation, but maybe you can point out the epidemiological study that confirms your suspicions?



Back to the tailings pond breach that the Williams Lake Indian Band bears some responsibility for, it seems the worst thing about this huge tailings pond spill are the massive "beaver dams" of slurry, silt and debris floating around. The tailings water was alkaline, not acidic, with a pH of 8.5 (7 is neutral; anything below 7 is acidic). Most metals dissolve faster in acidic water, so alkaline tailings are a good thing.

[RW]

When said tailing ponds leech into creeks and rivers.  DERP.



Search the media you love so much for fines on mining/smelting corps.

[Romero]

Disaster:



- 10 billion litres of toxic water contaminating several lakes, creeks and rivers; 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden silt

- drinking water and water-use ban

- regional state of emergency, and



http://i.cbc.ca/1.2727942.1407264605!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/image.jpg">



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuSY7PmIQAAner-.jpg:large">



Just look at that crappy berm. No kidding it was about to go.



Hundreds of tons of toxic heavy metals in an instant is not something that occurs anywhere. How on Earth are they going to clean up all those rivers, creeks and lakes? Good for those trout, but one million salmon are headed that way right now. It's a disaster for the regional tourism industry. It might get into the Fraser.



"If you asked me two weeks ago if this could have happened, I would have said it couldn't."

- Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch

Mount Polley mine tailings pond breach followed years of government warnings



A Ministry of Environment spokesperson said the ministry gave the company its latest of five warnings in May, this time for exceeding the permitted height of wastewater within its tailings pond.



Brian Olding, the environmental consultant who carried out the 2009 assessment for the company and local First Nations groups, says the pond levels were already getting too high five years ago.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond-breach-followed-years-of-government-warnings-1.2728591">//http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond-breach-followed-years-of-government-warnings-1.2728591

It's criminal negligence.



Imperial Metals stock plunged 40% today too.

[Anonymous]

When said tailing ponds leech into creeks and rivers.  DERP.



Search the media you love so much for fines on mining/smelting corps.

In other words, you just suspect it, no science? I would be more concerned about air pollution from pulp and paper mills like the one in Pictou, Nova Scotia that have real measurable air and/or water pollution.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/locals-fume-over-pictou-pulp-mill-emissions/article19909917/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... e19909917/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/locals-fume-over-pictou-pulp-mill-emissions/article19909917/

[Romero]

Those pics I posted don't anywhere near convey the severity enough.