JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The British Columbia government has approved an application by TSX-listed Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine to treat and discharge water outside of the mine site.
The permit was of a short-term nature and was needed because the water levels in the Springer pit, where the tailings were currently being managed, was expected to reach permitted capacity in April 2016.
Imperial Metals said in a statement on Tuesday that the permit allowed the mine to discharge treated water into the Hazeltine creek, from where it would flow down to a settlement pond and then into twin pipelines that would discharge about 40 m to 50 m below the surface of Quesnel lake.
The British Columbia Environment Ministry reported that any treated and discharged water would be required to meet its water quality guidelines for aquatic and public health.
The approval of the short-term permit was the second of three steps that Imperial had to complete to continue operations at the Mount Polley copper/gold mine, where a tailings dam failed on August 4, 2014. The tailings dam failure resulted in the loss of about 17-million cubic metres of water and the discharge of about eight-million cubic metres of tailings/materials into Polley lake, Hazeltine creek and Quesnel.
The first step was authorisation from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Energy and Mines in July, for the company to conditionally re-start restricted operations. One of the restart conditions was to have government approve the short-term water discharge permit.
The final step for Mount Polley mine would be to submit a long-term water treatment and discharge plan by June 30, 2016.
The short-term plan was approved after a 30-day public consultation and comment period, as well as a comprehensive technical review by the Cariboo Mine Development Review Committee. The committee included representatives from provincial agencies, First Nations, local governments (city of Williams Lake and Cariboo regional district), the community of Likely, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada. The British Columbia Environment Ministry stated that there was extensive engagement with the Williams Lake Indian Band and Soda Creek Indian Band, as well as the residents of Likely.
Meanwhile, Imperial reported that the Red Chris mine, also in British Columbia, had achieved the completion test requirements of the company's senior secured revolving credit facility, which was currently on October 1, 2016.
“This is another important milestone for the Red Chris mine. I would like to thank all of our employees and contractors who have been involved with construction, commissioning and operation of the Red Chris mine. We should all take great pride in this result given the relatively short period of time involved, and together we look forward to continued success at the mine," president Brian Kynoch said.