Ministry warned mine about tailings pond issues
NEWS/ MOUNT POLLEY — The Ministry of Environment issued several advisories to the owner of the Mount Polley Mine in the past two years but only one of them related to the height of effluent in its tailings pond, the ministry said today.
Broken tailings pond.
A status update on the tailings pond that burst Monday morning said that following reports of a previous breach at the mine, the Ministry of Energy and Mines investigated an incident that occurred May 24 and found it wasn’t a breach but a one-day period where the height of the effluent within the tailings pond was above regulation.
Here’s the rest of today’s statement from the government:
To date, Imperial Metals has been compliant with respect to recent orders regarding dam safety inspections. The last inspection by government mining officials took place in September 2013.
Here is a list of recent advisories to Mount Polley from the Ministry of Environment, only one of which was related to height of the tailings pond. The Ministry of Environment is responsible to ensure no unauthorized effluent discharge from the tailings pond structure:
May 24, 2014: The ministry issued an advisory to Mount Polley Mining Corporation for exceedance of the height of effluent within the tailings impoundment. The effluent level returned to authorized levels commencing June 30, 2014.
April 18, 2014: The ministry issued an advisory to Mount Polley Mining Corporation for bypass of authorized treatment works. The site experienced high flows due to spring freshet which caused the pump system to become blocked and resulted in an overflow of effluent to the long ditch. Flow did not reach the creek and was directed into Till Borrow Pit.
January and April 2012: The ministry issued an advisory to Mount Polley Mining Corporation for not submitting monitoring data for one of the groundwater monitoring wells.
Aug. 30, 2012: The ministry issued a warning to Mount Polley Mining Corporation for failure to report exceedence of the height of effluent for the perimeter pond. This perimeter pond overflowed, releasing approximately 150 cubic metres of effluent over 13 hours to ground.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
“The Ministry of Environment is responsible to ensure no unauthorized effluent discharge from the tailings pond structure:”
Just failed that one in a big way. But no worries. With all that LNG coming, the next generation of tailings ponds will be lined with un-breachable gold.
It is good to see the local “journalists” getting info and making it public. I am almost tempted to make a donation.
Interesting to note that the last inspection was done almost a year ago. What the heck, better than none at all.
LikeLike
Do these mines require an onsite or resident inspector that would alert management to a concern before the breeches or violations?
What’s listed shows that they are not aware of the seasons of the year, or the rules in a permit that has TEETH.
LikeLike