Categories
Remediation

Mount Polley water quality is evidence of remediation

Mount Polley water quality
Water quality and monitoring is fundamental to the Mount Polley remediation process for site recovery.

Mount Polley takes water quality very seriously. Extensive monitoring is evidencing the effectiveness of the remediation and site water management programs undertaken by Mount Polley.

How is water quality monitored in Polley and Quesnel Lakes to ensure proper environmental monitoring is being carried out?

  • Mount Polley follows the BC-ENV approved Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Plan. The results for all our monitoring sites are published in the publicly available Annual Environmental and Reclamation Reports.
  • You can find a link to the current report here: 2019 Environmental Report 
  • Polley Lake water met all BC Water Quality Guidelines for aquatic life parameters in 2019 with the exception of phosphorus, which was elevated even prior to mining. As Polley Lake is immediately adjacent to the mine site, this indicates the mine is doing a very good job of capturing and controlling run-off.
  • A number of sites are monitored in Quesnel Lake, and in 2019 there were no exceedances of acute BC Water Quality Guidelines.
  • At one monitoring site in Quesnel Lake, there was one minor copper exceedance of chronic BC Water Quality Guidelines in 2019, but as copper is also naturally occurring in the native soils and sediments around Quesnel Lake, and there are a number of creeks that empty into the lake near this sample site, it is difficult to know if this exceedance was natural or related to the mine.

We often get asked if we continue to discharge into Polley Lake or Quesnel Lake?

The mine discharges mine site water, that meets strict permit limits, through diffusers at depth into Quesnel Lake. This water is the only substance the mine is discharging to Quesnel Lake. The mine does not discharge water into Polley Lake.

  • Mount Polley discharges only mine site water that meets strict Environmental Management Act (EMA) permit guidelines.
  • treated by a water treatment plant, when needed to meet permit requirements, before being released into Quesnel Lake. The water going into the treatment plant (influent) is monitored on an ongoing basis, and the treated water leaving the plant (effluent) is sampled regularly for analysis. Not all water at Mount Polley requires treatment to meet EMA permit water quality guidelines before discharge, and in the past, water that was simply stored in Springer Pit was found suitable for passive discharge.
  • The lake water quality is also routinely monitored and sampled regularly as part of the mine’s Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Plan.

Continued monitoring data confirm that remediation efforts are effective.

  • Currently, there are no indications in the monitoring data that the water discharged from Mount Polley is having any negative effects on Quesnel Lake water quality or aquatic life.
  • If you are interested in looking at water quality data collected on surface water in the area around the Mount Polley mine, in addition to data in the mine’s annual reports, results are available through the BC Government Surface Water Monitoring Sites Interactive Map.

Categories
Remediation

Major milestones of Mount Polley’s environmental remediation efforts to date

Hazeltine Creek, October 2019
Mount Polley remediation and Hazeltine Creek recovery. Photo from October 2019.

The remediation effort at Mount Polley is ongoing; however, we are very proud of the major milestones that have been completed to-date.

  1. Repair of lower Edney Creek, re-establishment of link to Quesnel Lake and installation of new fish habitat for spawners from Quesnel Lake, completed in spring 2015, with evidence of successful spawning by Interior Coho, Kokanee and Sockeye Salmon.
  2. Completion of construction of a new Hazeltine Creek channel in May 2015, to control erosion and provide base for remediation of the creek itself and the creek valley.
  3. Ongoing planting of native trees and shrubs in the riparian and upland areas along the creek, now totally more than 600,000 trees and shrubs planted.
  4. Installation of over 6 kilometres of new fish spawning and rearing habitat in upper to middle Hazeltine Creek. Evidence of successful 2018 and 2019 Rainbow trout spawning in upper Hazeltine Creek.
  5. Clean-up and repair of 400 metres of Quesnel Lake shoreline, including placement of new fish spawning gravels.
  6. Re-establishment of wetlands in the Polley Flats area adjacent to the repaired TSF.
Hazeltine Creek aerial view
Hazeltine Creek recovery work. An aerial view of the environmental remediation efforts captured by a drone.
Categories
Community

Mount Polley is doing its part during COVID-19

Personal Protective Equipment
Mount Polley mine has donated personal protective equipment including N95 masks and gloves

We hope that you and your family are staying safe and following the preventative measures and actions you can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

We are doing our part during COVID-19. Imperial Metals Mount Polley mine has donated two boxes of N95 masks and four boxes of surgical gloves to the Williams Lake Hospital.

Newcrest-Imperial Metals Red Chris mine is providing additional medical support in Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek, and is working with the Tahltan Nation to support the provision of basic groceries to the Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek communities. In addition, Newcrest will help source health and sanitary supplies pending availability and lead times.

Review how you can prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your community.

Categories
Mining facts

Is Mount Polley Dumping Waste into Quesnel Lake?

There has been recent speculation about whether or not Mount Polley is dumping waste into Quesnel Lake. In short, the answer is no. Current treatment of water at Mount Polley, including the dilution zone at depth in Quesnel Lake, ensures water released into Quesnel Lake is in line with BC and Canadian water quality standards. Mount Polley discharges only treated mine site water that meets strict Environmental Management Act (EMA) permit guidelines.

All mine site water is collected and is treated by a Veolia ACTIFLO™ water treatment plant before it is released into Quesnel Lake. (see veoliawatertech.com for more information on their treatment systems and how they work.) The water going into the WTP (influent) is monitored on an ongoing basis (measurements of turbidity every 15 seconds) and the treated water leaving the plant (effluent) is sampled regularly for analysis. The lake water quality is also routinely monitored and sampled regularly as part of the mine’s Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Plan.

The following are facts that explore, in more detail, the discharge from Mount Polley into Quesnel Lake. We hope this information provides factual clarity about Mount Polley’s approved activities.

Is Mount Polley’s discharge having negative effects on Quesnel Lake?

There are no indications in the monitoring data that the Mount Polley discharge is having any negative effects on Quesnel Lake water quality. If you are interested in looking at some of the water quality data that has been collected on surface water in the area around the Mount Polley Mine, the results are available through the BC Government Surface Water Monitoring Sites Interactive Map

Is the water in Quesnel Lake contaminated? Is it safe to drink?

At this time, there are no indications of contamination of Quesnel Lake water from the Mount Polley spill. The mine, and the Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada, continue to monitor Quesnel Lake. With the exception of natural causes, the lake does not exceed environmental guidelines for any of the constituents of concern that are found in the Mount Polley tailings.

As early as August 12, 2014, BC’s Interior Health Authority (IHA) rescinded all water use restrictions from Quesnel Lake (including for “drinking water, personal use, fishing, swimming and recreational purposes”), except for the immediate impact zone where Hazeltine Creek entered Quesnel Lake. The IHA notice also stated that “Interior Health has no reason to believe that this water was ever exposed to unsafe levels of contaminants from the mine breach. As a result, flushing and testing of individual water supply systems is not considered necessary.”

All water use restrictions were fully rescinded July 13, 2015. (Note: IHA always advises that surface water be treated for pathogens prior to use/consumption.)

How much is the mine discharging into Quesnel Lake?

The Environmental Management Act permit annual average authorized discharge rate is 29,000 cubic meters per day. The actual discharge rate depends upon the rainfall experienced at site which varies from year to year. In 2019, the annual average discharge rate has been 14,883 cubic meters per day, significantly less than the mine’s permit allows.

Categories
Community Remediation

Staying connected to the community during Mount Polley’s remediation

Did you know that over the past six years, over 39 community meetings have been organized and hosted by Mount Polley management and environmental staff?

Mount Polley is committed to the environment and to ensuring the community is kept up to date on remediation efforts.

Over 24 meetings have been held in Likely, the community in closest proximity to the Mount Polley mine. Meetings have also been held in the communities of Quesnel, Horsefly, Big Lake and Williams Lake.

These meetings provide an opportunity for local residents to learn about the activities and progress of the remediation work and research programs being conducted, and the opportunity to engage and ask questions.

There is still work being done to complete the rebuilding of fish habitat in Hazeltine Creek. The rebuilding and revegetating of the lower part of the creek will be the last part of the remediation work to be done.

Guest speakers have included consultants and representatives from provincial Ministries who help educate the local community about environmental remediation.

Furthermore Mount Polley has established The Mount Polley Mine Public Liaison Committee (PLC).The PLC is comprised of representatives from the local communities of Likely, Big Lake, Horsefly and Williams Lake, local First Nations, government ministries, consultants and mine staff.

Meetings are held on a quarterly basis, with the purpose to share information about activities at the mine site with the PLC members, who are there as representatives of their communities. The agenda for each meeting includes updates on mine operations, environmental monitoring, and remediation. There is also a roundtable discussion at each meeting for all participants to pose questions and discuss any community concerns.

Categories
Remediation

Mount Polley Remediation’s 2019 Environmental Update

Extensive remediation work in the areas affected by the 2014 breach at Mount Polley has been achieved during the past five years.

Over $70 million dollars has been spent on clean-up work, including environmental impact and risk assessment studies, and remediation and monitoring of areas impacted by the spill.

Throughout 2019, the environmental department collected 1,115 water and soil samples. 336 surface water, 234 lake samples, 104 contact water, 77 groundwater, 181 seep, and 153 soil/other samples.

The construction on Hazeltine Creek concluded at the beginning of October and will re-commence at Lower Hazeltine in the Spring of 2020. The flow of Hazeltine Creek was monitored monthly.

There are 3 on-site environmental technicians to do the water sampling, environmental monitoring, inspections including reporting, database, spreadsheet data entry, communication, and coordinating meetings/tours.

Even though environmental monitoring slows down in the winter months, the environmental staff remain busy in the office with reporting, data entry, database management, scheduling, meetings, shoveling snow and general cleaning duties.

We continue to work hard to exemplify the highest site remediation standards and look forward to updating you as our work continues.

Categories
Mining facts

Tailings – What are they and what is in the Mount Polley tailings?

Mount Polley tailings
Mount Polley tailings

First, what are tailings?

Tailings are essentially crushed rock, and are the leftover material after the minerals containing the “elements of interest” have been removed. At Mount Polley the elements of interest are copper, gold and silver. The minerals containing the copper, gold and silver are released by crushing and grinding the mined rock down to sand and silt sized particles.

At Mount Polley, a process known as flotation is then used to separate the important copper-bearing minerals from the rest of the crushed ground rock. The remaining crushed rock is considered waste (gangue) and is what makes up the tailings. No cyanide is used at Mount Polley.

Read more about Tailings on the Mining Association of BC’s website here.

What is the in the Mount Polley tailings?
At Mount Polley, the valuable elements are copper, gold and silver and they are found most commonly in the sulphide minerals, chalcopyrite and bornite. The leftover minerals found in the waste are piped as a slurry with water to the tailings storage facility. [ref: Community Updates 2017 Issue 3; 2016 Apr Issue 2]

The rocks that are mined at Mount Polley are around 200 million years old and represent ancient volcanic rocks and magma that intruded into these rocks. The intrusive rocks host the copper, gold and silver mineralization.

Let’s talk rocks!
The rocks which host most of the ore are made up primarily of the minerals orthoclase (potassium feldspar), albite (sodium plagioclase), magnetite (iron oxide), Ca-plagioclase (calcium plagioclase), diopside (pyroxene), garnet, biotite (mica), epidote and calcite (calcium carbonate). These minerals are all common rock-forming minerals, and represent 90% of what ends up in the Mount Polley tailings pond.

Of the other 10 percent, most are also common minerals, with a minor amount of sulphide minerals, including a little bit of chalcopyrite (0.17%) that didn’t get captured in the mill and a small amount of pyrite (0.04%).

What is unusual about Mount Polley is that, when compared to many other copper deposits (and the reason why these tailings are considered by geochemists to be chemically quite benign) there is very little pyrite (iron sulphide) and a fair amount of calcite (calcium carbonate) in the tailings.

Due to this, Mount Polley’s tailings do not generate “acid rock drainage”. This is the process that happens when sulphide minerals, especially pyrite, are exposed to the atmosphere and react to form sulphuric acid, which then can leach metals out of tailings and lead to metal mobility and potential contamination.

Mount Polley’s tailings do not have this “acid rock drainage” problem, as there is very little pyrite, and calcite acts as a neutralizing agent if any of the minor amounts of sulphide in the tailings breaks down. The vast majority of the rest of the minerals in Mount Polley’s tailings does not react easily with air or water, and are very similar to natural sand.

Categories
Remediation

Major remediation efforts to-date at Mount Polley

Remediation at Mount Polley
Mount Polley remediation efforts have met major milestones and the work continues

Mount Polley is proud of the major remediation efforts done to-date, including the building of a rainbow trout hatchery on-site in 2018 to raise more rainbow trout for Polley Lake

$70 million has been spent on clean-up, environmental impact and risk assessment studies, and remediation and monitoring of areas impacted by the spill.

Imperial Metals, with support of its shareholders and lenders, has paid for the clean-up and remediation work. No government funding (taxpayers’ money) has been spent on the clean-up or repair work done at the site. Some of the major milestones of the Mount Polley mine’s environmental remediation efforts to-date include:

  • Repair of lower Edney Creek, re-establishment of link to Quesnel Lake and installation of new fish habitat for spawners from Quesnel Lake, completed in spring 2015, with evidence of successful spawning by Interior Coho, Kokanee and Sockeye Salmon.
  • Completion of construction of a new Hazeltine Creek channel in May 2015, to control erosion and provide base for remediation of the creek itself and the creek valley.
  • Ongoing planting of native trees and shrubs in the riparian and upland areas along the creek, now totally more than 600,000 trees and shrubs planted.
  • Installation of over 6 kilometres of new fish spawning and rearing habitat in upper to middle Hazeltine Creek. Evidence of successful 2018 and 2019 Rainbow trout spawning in upper Hazeltine Creek.
  • Clean-up and repair of 400 metres of Quesnel Lake shoreline, including placement of new fish spawning gravels.
  • Re-establishment of wetlands in the Polley Flats area adjacent to the repaired TSF.

There is still work being done to complete the rebuilding of fish habitat in Hazeltine Creek. The rebuilding of the lower part of the creek will be the last part of the remediation work to be done.

Mount Polley looks forward to sharing more progress with you soon!

Categories
Remediation

The Mount Polley Team: Maintaining a Healthy Environment

Hazeltine creek
Fish habitats have been installed at Hazeltine Creek during Mount Polley remediation

Mout Polley continues to restore the environment during its current care and maintenance phase.

With 14 staff members working at the Mount Polley site, as well as several contractors, the remediation team at Mount Polley continues to work diligently to restore habitats, ecosystem and the environment at Mount Polley and affected sites.

The Mount Polley team includes environmental staff ensuring environmental recovery.  DWB Consulting Services Ltd. is also on site to provide quality control and assurance.

Some monitoring activities taking place during Mount Polley’s continued remediation include water sampling, water treatment plant sampling, plankton sampling, fish population monitoring, Hazeltine Creek monitoring and fish surveys.

Sockeye salmon in Edney Creek as a result of Mount Polley remediation
Salmon and trout are repopulating Edney Creek during Mount Polley remediation efforts.

Our efforts have proved successful to-date! Several sockeye salmon were observed in Edney Creek. Furthermore, Rainbow Trout, Coho Salmon, Lon Nose Dace and Burbot have also been identified.

Categories
Video

Mount Polley Remediation Story

Mount Polley Remediation
From tailings spill to environmental recovery. Mount Polley is making things right.
This is the story of Mount Polley Remedition – from tailings spill to environmental recovery

Katie: “My name is Katie McMahen. I was born and raised here in Williams Lake and I was a member of the environmental team here at Mount Polley for a number of years. Although it was a really devastating event, as scientists we want to learn what we can out of this work that’s going on and so we’re studying methods for restoring functioning forest ecosystems, methods for rehabilitating the soil, and trying to improve best practices, really. Since day one, we’ve been doing a ton of environmental monitoring and really prioritizing fixing up the creek.

“So I love the forest, and I love working and rehabilitating the forest, so some of the coolest work we’ve been doing is not just the replanting of trees, but trying to trying to create the right conditions for those trees to thrive. So, managing the tailings, doing some techniques to really make nice little sites for the trees to grow and so that they had the proper soil conditions.”

Mount Polley remediation staff on site near Hazeltine Creek
Mount Polley staff have been working diligently for years to restore habitats, ecosystems, and the environment at Mount Polley and affected sites. The Mount Polley Remediation story is one of turn-around, innovation, and Canadian pride.

Gabriel: “My name is Gabriel Holmes, and I grew up in Likely, British Columbia, and I’m an environmental technician here, I’ve worked here since 2011. I’m really proud of reintroducing the fish into the creeks – there’s a whole bunch of things I could go on and on – but reintroducing fish into Hazeltine Creek was a real milestone, the success of the spawning last year of the rainbow trout and Hazeltine Creek, a real milestone. The vegetative communities that are developing in our terrestrial landscapes in riparian areas and then of course this year, seeing a number of sockeye salmon in Edney Creek. I’m really proud to see that occur because that’s one of our end goals that we were trying to accomplish and to see them utilizing the system today, it’s fantastic.”

Katie: “I’m super proud of the work that we’ve done here. One of the biggest challenges has just been the scale of the work that we’ve had to do, and so considering it’s only five years now since the breach, just the sheer amount of work that’s been done in those five years is amazing. When I look back it feels like way longer because I can’t believe how much we’ve done.

“We’ve really set a high precedent for what needs to happen following an incident like this and that the type of work that can be done and should be done to clean up sites. There’s a lot of information that needs to get out there about what what’s the actual environmental conditions and the fact that we have thriving rainbow trout in the creek and tons of wildlife and animals using the habitat that we’ve created. It’s going to take some years for everything to grow, but these ecosystems are well on their way to recovery.”

Mount Polley environmental technician surveys sites near Polley lake. Remediation efforts have come a long way and are almost complete. The recovery project has cost Mount Polley’s parent company more than $70 million.