Independent Mt. Polley probe ordered

Posted on August 18, 2014 in Top Story // 1 Comment

Mines Minister Bill Bennett at Monday’s media conference,
announcing Mount Polley investigation. (screen shot)

NEWS/ MOUNT POLLEY — An independent investigation of the Aug. 4 Mount Polley Mine tailings-pond disaster and a third-party review of all tailings-pond dams in B.C. have been ordered by the provincial government.

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett confirmed the move today (Monday) at a 10 a.m. media conference to “make sure it never happens again” and to “make sure we restore public confidence.

“We need to find a way to earn back that public confidence.”

Bennett said a three-member panel of engineers will lead the inquiry and report by the end of January 2015. It will include geotechnical standards, the design of the tailings pond dam, maintenance, any changes that were made to the dam, government regulations and inspections.

The panel can call testimony and evidence to get at the reason the Mount Polley pond failed, Bennett said.

Imperial Metals, the owner of the Mount Polley Mine, will pay the cost of the investigation.

In addition to the investigation of Mount Polley, all tailings ponds operating at permitted mines in the province will be reviewed for safety. Mine owners will be required to have inspections done by Dec. 1 and have them reviewed by independent engineering firms.

“Mining is a critical industry in B.C.,” Bennett said, “but it must be done in a way the public has confidence in it.”

He said tailings-pond dam failures are very rare in B.C. but the causes of Mount Polley have to be found and steps taken to preventing another one happening.

Asked if he would resign should the government be found negligent in any way, Bennett said “everything is on the table” with the investigation. “If my ministry is proven to have been negligent and to have been a cause of this, then I need to take responsibility and I will…. Everything is on the table.”

Members of the Mount Polley investigation panel include consulting engineer Norbert Morgenstern, geotechnical engineer Steven Vick, and Dirk Van Zyl, a professor at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering.