Mount Polley a ‘wake-up call’ on Ajax, says mine opponent
NEWS/ AJAX — The provincial and federal governments should take a lesson from the Mount Polley Mine tailings-pond disaster and hit the pause button on Ajax, says the Kamloops Area Preservation Association.
KAPA spokesman John Schleiermacher said today the governments need to give the public new opportunities to take part in the assessment process because of questions raised by KGHM International’s proposal for a tailings pond between Jacko and Goose Lakes.
Proposed Ajax tailings pond. (Ajax video)
“The Mount Polley disaster has been a wake-up call for the citizens of Kamloops,” he said.
“KGHM Ajax has been telling us that they have moved the proposed tailings impoundment farther from the city but, in fact, they have moved it into the headwaters of Peterson Creek, which emerges from a steep, narrow canyon and flows right through downtown Kamloops before entering the salmon-rich Thompson River.”
The previous minesite layout showed tailings being located in a dry-stack facility between Lac le Jeune Road and the Coquihalla Highway west of Jacko Lake.
“The mine will only be around for 23 years,” Schleiermacher said. “The tailings sludge and massive piles of waste rock will be perched like a time bomb on the hills above Kamloops forever.”
He pointed out that, in the wake of the Mount Polley tailings dam collapse, the environmental assessment for the Morrison mine proposed by Pacific Booker Minerals in the northern Interior has been suspended until a review panel investigates the causes.
Schleiermacher said the tailings pond proposed for Ajax is three times as big as the one at Mount Polley. “Why isn’t the government suspending finalizing the information requirements for the Ajax project until the Mount Polley investigation is concluded?
“The Ajax proposal is an opportunity for the governments to show the public that it has learned from the Mount Polley disaster, and it can begin with an expert review and public hearings for the Ajax mine.”
Kamloops City council has asked the B.C. Environmental Assessment office to conduct a new public comment period on the Ajax environmental application guidelines in view of the plan for a tailings pond.
KGHM International says it will abide by any changes the EA makes to the public-input process.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The problem with Ajax’s promise to “Do it right,” is that the rules are set by a government that is monetarily and philosophically committed to the development of mining. They are too eager to push “progress” in the economy, which they measure only in narrow, shallow, dollar terms. The rules favor the risk taker; the consequences fall to the by-stander.
Even a cursory look at a topographic map of the area will show the routes water may take: one is directly down Peterson Creek, and the other is into Jocko Lake and then down Peterson Creek.
I fail to see why we should let Ajax gamble with public domain.
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Indeed. There are many reasons to be skeptical of the merit of living in such proximity to a large open pit mine. I hope many have had their eyes opened. A catastrophic tailings failure is only one of many possible negative outcomes with far too few potential benefits for Kamloops.
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KGHM’s new Tailings Toilet Dam has no room for downstream repairs regarding seepage, a regular occurrence with tailings dams. Fly over Highland Valley Copper’s dam which is less than 10 km. from the Thompson River and view their repairs on Google Earth.
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So once again, we receive a doomsday scenario from KAPA if we allow Ajax to go ahead. I happen to trust our First Nations, more than I do KAPA. Our First Nations leadership have it right, when they say “Do it right,” at all levels of authority, or don’t do it at all. I would agree that both the provincial and federal governments must do a good job of overseeing what KGHM is planning on doing and if the mine goes ahead, then make sure that the company is abiding by the rules of the game.
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I think that is the problem, Mr Beaton – the rules of the game are not robust and do not protect us. I, for one, no longer have any faith at all in the ability of the provincial or federal governments to do a good job of overseeing anything. They don’t make industry “do it right,” if that is even possible when an open pit mine is on a hillside over a large population. They have spent years dismantling our environmental protection laws. Then they feign surprise when disaster strikes.
In cases with uncertainty and risk, I think the best mitigation strategy may well be a large buffer – and Ajax does not have one.
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