Environment

While sediment samples collected from the area surrounding the Mount Polley tailings breach exceed some provincial standards, the B.C. Ministry of Environment insists levels are consistent with earlier baselines.

The Vancouver Aquarium has launched a lawsuit challenging the validity of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation’s July 31st resolutions regarding the acquisition and keeping of cetaceans in captivity.

Two environmental groups are asking British Columbians to help them track where and how oil would spill in the waters around Vancouver in the event of a tanker leak.

The Mount Polley mine disaster has officially spilled over the border into the U.S. – figuratively speaking.

The government has given B.C. mines three months to conduct independent reviews of the state of their tailings facilities in the wake of the Mount Polley tailings pond breach that sent 10 million cubic metres of water gushing through the Cariboo region in early August.

Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) will raise $100 million through debentures to help cover the cleanup costs of its Mount Polley mine disaster, and plans to move ahead with the commissioning of its Red Chris mine, despite the project being $61 million over budget and picketed by First Nations.

The results for tests on water samples taken from Polley Lake on August 7 and 8 show levels very close to those seen prior to the August 4 tailings pond breach, the Ministry of Environment announced August 12.

A breach at Imperial Metals' (TSX:III) Mount Polley Mine tailings pond in Canada’s British Columbia may have been avoided had the company listened to concerns raised by engineers that designed the containment system, Knight Piésold Consulting said.

Preliminary testing of water in Quesnel Lake has determined the water is within federal and provincial drinking water guidelines, despite the collapse of a tailings pond dam that dumped 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of mine slurry into Polley and Quesnel lakes.

It will take some time to determine the long-term environmental effects of the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach, according to a UNBC researcher familiar with the area.