Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Anatomy of a mine disaster

A graphic of the Mount Polley Mine and surrounding area shows the debris going into Quesnel Lake caused by a tailings pond breach near the town of Likely, B.C..
Photograph by: Special to The Sun, Vancouver Sun

"The millions of cubic metres of water that poured out of Mount Polley mine when the dam collapsed had failed provincial water quality guidelines for human and aquatic health in the past, according to the B.C. environment ministry and early Wednesday the Cariboo Regional District declared a state of local emergency.

Data sent to the ministry by Mount Polley as recently as Monday showed that selenium concentration exceeded drinking water guidelines by a factor of 2.8 times.

There have also been drinking water exceedances of sulphate over the last few years, according to information supplied to The Vancouver Sun by environment ministry spokesman Dave Crebo..."


Imperial Metals given deadline for dealing with disastrous breach at Mount Polley mine tailings pond (with video)

Spilled waste water failed health guidelines for human, aquatic health — state of emergency declared

By Larry Pynn and Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun August 6, 2014 9:09 PM

Read article, plus photos, plus videos, here: http://bit.ly/1qYaFGW

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