Manitoba Wildlands  
Mount Polley Mine Reopens 14 December 15

Mount Polley
The B.C. government has granted a short-term water discharge permit to Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine to ensure a containment pit used to store mining waste will not overflow. The company is using the Springer Pit, excavated to obtain ore, to temporarily store mining waste while it comes up with a long-term plan to deal with the waste and water. The Mount Polley mine will drain its waste from a tailings pit into Quesnel Lake.

In a statement announcing the permit, the B.C. Environment Ministry said treated water will be discharged into Hazeltine Creek, flow into a pond where sediment will settle out, and from there will be piped into Quesnel Lake 30 to 40 metres below the surface.

Secwepemc Nation spokesperson Kanahus Manuel is outraged by the province's decision, and worried for the people who use Quesnel Lake.

"This effluent and this treated water that Imperial Metals is discharging into Quesnel Lake is not meeting the drinking water guidelines," she says. "It is going to be flowing right down into the Fraser River which 63 per cent of B.C. depends on for our watershed."

View December 2, 2015 CBC News article
View December 1, 2015 The Vancouver Sun article
View November 22, 2015 The Globe and Mail article
View July 9, 2015 CBC News article
View July 2, 2015 CBC News article
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Manitoba Wildlands2002-2014