Highland valley dam spill 225 thousand gallons

[maryjane48]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kamloops/ ... ll-at-mine



more dams leaking under clark

[JayByrd]

What does this have to do with the Provincial government? Are you going to blame Christy Clark for the weather too?

[maryjane48]

lol if you cant comprehend what dam spills have to do with a govt i suggest you should never vote

[JayByrd]

*removed*

[dogspoiler]

The ministry won't comment because of the upcoming election ?
They have hit a new low in evading responsibility.
How is it possible to trust any level of Government ?

[vegas1500]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kamloops/194524/225K-gallon-spill-at-mine



more dams leaking under clark

Good thing the spill was 100% contained by the containment system....if it's Clarks fault it leaked I guess she should get kudo's for the safety systems in place.....

[kgcayenne]

What does this have to do with the Provincial government? Are you going to blame Christy Clark for the weather too?

There had been a lack of government oversight of our natural resources and inspection/governance of dams, such as this one. It wasn't until the Testalinden Dam failed washing out orchards and Highway 97 in the south Okanagan that the government began to play catch-up. As you can see, there is STILL a long way to go.

Just read the Executive Summary of the 2010 Review of the Testalinden Dam Failure report and see for yourself how little priority there was placed on such a situation.

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farmin ... review.pdf

Anyone who wishes to hold rights in our natural resources needs to be accountable to us, the population, and the enforcement of necessary safety standards lies in the hands of the Government on our behalf.

[Catri]

The Ministry of Energy and Mines was informed of the spill by Teck, but a ministry representative told Castanet they could not provide any information about it because the provincial election is ongoing.

What does the election have to do with providing information about a tailings spill? Unless they're hiding something.

[Urban Cowboy]

*removed*

[gordon_as]

Considering the dimensions of the washout that was given by the company , 225,000 gallons sounds like a gross underestimation. Sounds like they have been cutting corners , and it bit them in the butt , and now they are trying to minimize their culpability.

If you calculate the amount of material (sand) washed out of the dam , based on the measurements reported , it is the equivalent of 800,000 gallons . If you divide that by 2 , assuming the breach was not a full 4.5 meters deep all the way across , you still have the equivalent of 400,000 gallons of sand being washed away. No way 225,000 gallons of water could do that in my opinion.

Anyone who does not recognize that this could easily have escalated into a Mt. Polley type disaster , is wearing blinders.

[christopher]

Considering the dimensions of the washout that was given by the company , 225,000 gallons sounds like a gross underestimation. Sounds like they have been cutting corners , and it bit them in the butt , and now they are trying to minimize their culpability.

If you calculate the amount of material (sand) washed out of the dam , based on the measurements reported , it is the equivalent of 800,000 gallons . If you divide that by 2 , assuming the breach was not a full 4.5 meters deep all the way across , you still have the equivalent of 400,000 gallons of sand being washed away. No way 225,000 gallons of water could do that in my opinion.

Anyone who does not recognize that this could easily have escalated into a Mt. Polley type disaster , is wearing blinders.

Measuring the spill in gallons seems odd to me. The washout is too big for 225000 gallons and if I am wrong then they better start getting slope protection on it.

[erinmore3775]

The Highland Valley Copper mine spill that caused an eroded trench of about 4.5-metre deep and six-metre wide down the face of the 140-metre high dam tailings pond dam indicates that Tek Resources was not following the requirements of their own manual. The manual is part of their operating requirements as outlined in their license. This is another self-regulation failure.

The manual requires visual inspections of the across the dam to ensure that there are no leaking pipeline joints or other unusual problems every two hours. Similarly, the pump house operators are required to inspect for leaking pipes or joints,or other problems every four hours. If these inspections occurred when required, 225,000 gallons or 1 000 000 Litres of discharge from a slurry pipeline would not have occurred.

http://mssi.nrs.gov.bc.ca/HiglandValley/HighlandValley_2014_EPRP_Highland_OMSManual_Redacted.pdf pp10-11 Periodic inspections by HVC Personnel

"Teck's Martell [superintendent of environment and community affairs with Teck Resources] says those operators are not required at the Cyclone House to inspect the dam when it's not in operation.

“That's carried out by our dam inspectors, and they're there everyday,” Martell said. “They're responsible for inspecting all the impounds (dams) on site.”

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kamloops/194524/225K-gallon-spill-at-mine

The Ministry of Energy and Mines continues to function whether an election writ has been dropped or not. The fact that they refuse to release informnation indicates that there is political influence being exerted by the current government. It also indicates that the current government has a "good reason" to burry any critical information. The current government's management of the Ministry borders on incompetent. It is important to note that Tek Resources had leaks at their Trail operation, in 2011 and 2014. It makes one wonder if political contributions to the Party that forms the current government have influenced the Ministry's investigations and monitoring of Tek Resources facilities?

[flamingfingers]

erinmore wrote:

[quote]The Ministry of Energy and Mines continues to function whether an election writ has been dropped or not. The fact that they refuse to release informnation indicates that there is political influence being exerted by the current government. It also indicates that the current government has a "good reason" to burry any critical information. The current government's management of the Ministry borders on incompetent. It is important to note that Tek Resources had leaks at their Trail operation, in 2011 and 2014. It makes one wonder if political contributions to the Party that forms the current government have influenced the Ministry's investigations and monitoring of Tek Resources facilities?[/quote]

Border on incompetent? No. It borders on criminal and conflict of interest charges. We need a Charbonneau inquiry for the ChristyLiberals!!

[JayByrd]

There had been a lack of government oversight of our natural resources and inspection/governance of dams, such as this one. It wasn't until the Testalinden Dam failed washing out orchards and Highway 97 in the south Okanagan that the government began to play catch-up. As you can see, there is STILL a long way to go.


Anyone who wishes to hold rights in our natural resources needs to be accountable to us, the population, and the enforcement of necessary safety standards lies in the hands of the Government on our behalf.

Thank you for the explanation and the link. I guess I took the OP's accusation to be one of direct responsibility, rather than an general lack of oversight. I definitely agree with your sentiment.

[hobbyguy]

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/teck-investigating-process-water-release-at-highland-valley-mine-near-logan-lake

"Stannell said that freezing caused a leak in a pipeline servicing the mine’s tailings facility and the release of about 850 cubic metres of “process water” on April 8.

The spill was contained at the site, he said, adding the “safety and stability” of the mine’s tailings dam “was not affected in any way and there were no environmental impacts as a result of this incident.”

He said the containment facility operated as designed and that the water was returned to the tailings facility."

So - no dam failure, no environmental damage, and the fail safe system worked as designed. Plus an investigation is underway.

In other words, the "hoo-hah" is just NDP political loonies trying to make an issue out of nada.