It is too preliminary for Mount Polley to make a substantive comment on the application for judicial review. And we must point out this is a challenge to the Provincial government’s permitting approval process and not of Mount Polley per se.
Mount Polley believes in strong relations with Indigenous communities. Fifteen years ago we signed some of the first agreements in Canada between operating mines and Indigenous communities—including the Xatśūll First Nation. That agreement was renewed with the Nation in 2016, two years after the breach. In the intervening time Mount Polley continues to work with Xatśūll representatives on environmental matters, including these permits, and we take pride in using Xatśūll business ventures for some of the mine’s largest external contracts.
Mount Polley has always been open to Indigenous input with regard to improving our operations and performance, and during the three years we have been working on getting this permit, we have held meetings every month with representatives of both the Williams Lake First Nation and the Xatśūll First Nation. Also, we have funded a review of the design of the Tailings Storage Facility by an independent consultant employed by Xatśūll and implemented the consultant’s recommendations following the review. If there are improvements we can make, we would like to hear from our Indigenous partners on those improvements.
