Since the B.C. Mount Polley mine accident is being used as the basis to stop all mining, here and in Canada, here are the facts. Gold and copper were discovered along the shores of Polley Lake in eastern B.C. in the late 1800s. The lake is a narrow, shallow-water trout lake. The miners raised its water level in the early 1900s and began using water cannons to erode the gold deposits. Later they used hard rock mining methods and still later used the current open pit method. It constructed a circular ‘dike-style’ containment pond to contain the processed muddy water. In 2014 a short section of the dike collapsed sending a torrent of dike material and non-toxic water four miles down a small outlet creek and to the bottom of the deepest lake in B.C., the 75-mile-long Quesnel Lake. By 2015, the scoured-out creek (very similar to the 24-mile creek near Klukwan) was repaired, then revegetated and by 2016 was back to normal. Also, Quesnel Lake water quality was not affected, nor its sockeye spawning beaches or trout stocks. The mine employs 350 local and native miners. They spent millions repairing the breach damage, the responsible thing to do. If seeing is believing call 250-790-2617 for a summer mine tour.
Dave Werner