Particle.news
Download on the App Store
6 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

B.C. Supreme Court Clears Path for Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Raise

Justice Michael Tammen concluded that provincial consultations met constitutional standards to justify the four-metre tailings dam extension

The Mount Polley mine is seen near the town of Likely, B.C., on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Crews place wood chip mulch in lower Hazeltine Creek floodplain for erosion control and addition to organic matter. The Hazeltime Creek valley was the hardest hit area by the torrent of material released when the tailing pond collapsed at the Mount Polley Mine.
Contents from a tailings pond is pictured going down the Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake near the town of Likely, B.C. on August, 5, 2014.

Overview

  • The court dismissed the Xatsull First Nation’s injunction request, enabling Mount Polley Mining Corp. to raise the tailings dam by four metres
  • Justice Tammen ruled that the province’s engagement with the Xatsull was “deep” and offered “ample opportunity” to express rights concerns
  • The judge described the planned increase as “comparatively modest” and saw no legal need for an additional environmental assessment
  • Xatsull leaders emphasize that the 2014 dam collapse remains a source of ongoing environmental harm and threats to their cultural way of life
  • With the injunction lifted, the mine operator may resume depositing tailings that require the raised dam height