KSM gets approval to pollute Nass River

[LordEd]

Try again. Your 2014 article is out of date. They addressed the Gitanyow concerns and made an agreement.

Keep trying.

[LordEd]

Gold and copper are used in solar panel systems.

Question: where will materials come from to support your solar powered industry dream?

[erinmore3775]

In its original news release, the government of the day Mines Minister Bill Bennett said

"...the company made a series of changes to its proposal in an effort to mitigate the potential impact on the environment and surrounding First Nations, such as locating its production and tailings facilities 23 kilometres away from the mine in a less sensitive area. A tunnel would connect the two sites.

The mine would sit on the traditional territory of the Nisga'a Nation, which signed an agreement with Seabridge earlier this year that includes financial payments, a share of the mine's net profits and commitments to train and employ members of the band.

The company has also signed an agreement with the nearby Gitanyow First Nation to fund programs to monitor wildlife, fish and water quality in response to that community's concerns.

The Gitxsan First Nation has also come out in support of the project, and the company says it hopes to sign an agreement with the Tahltan First Nation soon."

http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2014/07/30/b-c-approves-5-3-billion-copper-gold-mine.html

Now I have a great deal of trust that the Gitanyow First Nation's will monitor carefully the environment around the mine and especially around the tailings pond. I trust that both the Ministry and Seabridge Gold Inc. (TSX:SEA) the principal of the KSM project, also known as Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell, will provide them with the money and the tools to do a proper job. Their observations cannot be based on anecdotal observations. They must be based on scientific documentation and current evidence collected since 2014. That is the only way effective monitoring can occur. Likewise, the Ministry must be willing to accept their findings and place immediate stop work orders on KSM mine if the monitoring shows that the surrounding environment is being damaged.

I would also hope that the Ministry has secured a percentage of audited production costs agreement with Seabridge to be put into a secured fund for reclamation of the land after the mine ceases production. A simple bond is not enough. The real challenge will come when the new government takes power. Will they provide the budget and the personnel for proper monitoring? Resource development and the related jobs are important to BC, but so is the environment. Resource extraction can be done with minimal harm to the environment. However, that involves increased production costs and increased monitoring cost. I only hope that the new government has the courage and foresight to require and provide both.

[Queen K]

Perhaps a few well placed, well time emails to the new NDP Government will be needed to remind them that this could be done? ^^^

Gold and copper are used in solar panel systems.

Question: where will materials come from to support your solar powered industry dream?

Maybe it should come from recycled gold and copper?

[maryjane48]

the only problem erin is the nass and bell irving rivers flow into other watersheds that are not in that bands lands . and dry stacking is the better option and they should be forced to use that method . recreational fishing generates more money and more jobs than ten of these could . but rightwingers never think about that. 8

[LordEd]

More faked statistics. Typical.

[maryjane48]

im from that area ed . i know it and know the folly of pollutting the nass . i have a stake in it remaining unpollutted . you dont .

[LordEd]

I don't believe you know how to count to 10 let alone estimate the value of recreational fishing against 10,000 mine jobs (you did say 10x)

[erinmore3775]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-approves-53-billion-copper-gold-ksm-mine/article19869086/ KSM mine approval

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-first-nation-to-battle-taseko-mines-plan-in-court/article35840762/ B.C. First Nation to battle Taseko Mines in court

While these are two distinct and different project there are similarities. Both were given approvals to proceed with development projects in the waning days of the Liberal government. In the Taseko situation,

"A permit for exploration work, including drilling test pits and buildings roads, was issued July 14, while B.C.’s former Liberal government was still in office and several Tsilhqot’in communities were under evacuation orders because of raging wildfires."

Both of these projects offer great potential as economic drivers of investment, employment, and through the profits from mineral resources extracted. However, both are located in environmentally sensitive areas and have the potential to destroy nearby lakes and rivers and the natural habitat forever if they use the technology outlined in their prospectus for the handing of tailings. The alternative to huge tailing ponds is dry stacking.

http://www.tailings.info/disposal/drystack.htm

Since water conservation, pollution of nearby water sources, and the climate (dry stacking prevents pipe freezes and frosting problems with conventional impoundments) dry stacking provides a better alternative to conventional tailing ponds. It also virtually eliminates contamination through ground seepage and offers better recovery of dissolved metals and process chemicals. The only drawback is higher cost.

If these companies were to include dry stacking of tailings in their prospectus, I believe that they would garner support both from the surrounding populations but from the federal and provincial governments as well.

What will be interesting is the NDP-Green alliance will react to whatever decisions the courts make and how they will deal with the environmental effects of these projects. Will they increase the scrutiny of the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of the Environment? Will they require strict adherence to the current rules and regulations?

My bet is that they will spend all of their efforts on curtailing the Site C project, which has a relatively low environmental impact and huge long-term economic and environmental benefits and ignore the effects of mine projects. Their reasoning, it happens up north away from the spotlight, and there are few votes to be gained through regulation enforcement and environmental protection.

[BeingHuman]

Dry stacking tailings is a bit more expensive for mining companies, but it is much better on the environment. However, when mining company expenses increase, thus cutting into valuable "profits" the environment will lose out, particularly when mining companies buy our government, like they did with the Christy Clark government.

This shift in priorities was never more evident when the Mount Polley Tailings Pond (Lake) containment dam suffered a catastrophic failure, causing the largest environmental disaster in the history of Canada. Christy Clark's first concern was??? How will this affect future approvals of mining projects, her first thoughts were not about the environmental devastation, nor the health impacts on the local population of Likely, BC... Christy and the BC Liberals were all about the "cha-ching cha-ching and the b-bling b-bling".... money first, everything else comes in a very distant second. No wonder the Americans in Alaska are nervous. Time for the NDP/Greens to step up and become responsible managers of our resources, because we know the BC Libs weren't.

[JagXKR]

im from that area ed . i know it and know the folly of pollutting the nass . i have a stake in it remaining unpollutted . you dont .

My only godson is Nisga'a. I have a stake as well as he knows me as Uncle. My nephew/godson and his extended family are in favor and so are the vast majority of Nisga'a. That is their land and they have had a very successful departure from the Federal welfare system for the last 19 years. Or 17 years if you go by the Final Agreement.
The Nisga'a know a lot about the Nass as it's been their main source of survival for millennium. They weighed all the data and came up with an informed decision. The Nisga'a are a success story for BC. They will continue to draw the ire of other nations that continue to be completely dependent on the Federal welfare system. Jealousy, envy or perhaps fear of being their own and not beholding to welfare are some reasons others have a problem with the Nisga'a.

http://www.nisgaalisims.ca/protecting-nass-river

[maryjane48]

theres no way to get around poisoning 2 rivers . if its so healthy i can get you some tailing water for you to drink

[JagXKR]

theres no way to get around poisoning 2 rivers . if its so healthy i can get you some tailing water for you to drink

There is no poisoning. Saying so is a lie. Are you saying the potential poisoning? That was addressed to the satisfaction of the council and hereditary chiefs. So you disagree with the Nisga'a? Are you part of one of their adjacent nations? Most of them do not have a good relationship with the Nisga'a.
The Nisga'a are so revered in the world they get visitors just to talk with the leaders on how to do a treaty.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2012/11/06/Nort ... ough-Nass/

snip (s)
escalate a century-old territorial fight with one of the Nisga'a's neighbours.

Also, companies hoping to develop mines and other resource projects in the Nass watershed must now meet many requirements additional to the federal environmental assessment detailing how a project will affect all facets of Nisga'a economic, social and cultural life.

So influential are these and other provisions of the 2000 agreement (see sidebar) that over the last dozen years delegations from U.S. tribes, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and points across Canada have visited the Nass to confer with Nisga'a leaders on how to replicate their accomplishment elsewhere.

[erinmore3775]

There is no doubt that the Nisga'a have done a great job negotiating their treaties. There is no doubt too that they have instituted some improved environmental requirements for those who wish to extract resources in their area. However, what myself and others are trying to point out is that dry stacking of tailings is a better and a more environmentally friendly way to deal with mine waste. It is much, much better than a tailings pond. Tailing liquids flow, stacked tailings do not and have the advantage of being easily encapsulated during the remediation process. That is why I am surprised that dry stacking of tailings in these areas is not a requirement.

[maryjane48]

lol the hereditary chiefs dont run the show there anymore . its going to pollute if they do not dry stack . its not debatable.