ONLINE ALL THE TIME: BREAKING NEWS AND UPDATES AT KAMLOOPSTHISWEEK.COM
ab K A M L O O P S
Kamloops, B.C., Canada X 30 cents at Newsstands
Human remains those of missing woman Page A3
THURSDAY
Thursday, August 7, 2014 X Volume 27 No. 92
THIS WEEK
Health Minister Terry Lake on mass privacy breach at hospital Page A4 Thompson River Publications Limited Partnership
MT. POLLEY DISASTER PUTS FOCUS ON AJAX By Cam Fortems STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
Shuswap First Nations are calling for a moratorium on mine development in the wake of the Mount Polley disaster, demanding new accountability from industry and government. Leaders gathered at a inland salmon-fisheries storefront at Mount Paul Industrial Park in Kamloops on Tuesday, Aug. 5, to condemn the tailings-dam breach and catastrophic effect on the Quesnel and Fraser river systems in the Cariboo. “Ajax will face a lot of challenges,” Tk’emlups Indian Band Chief Shane Gottfriedson said of the proposed open-pit copper and gold mine south of Aberdeen. “When you look at the Mount Polley disaster, I guarantee it will have an impact on our people’s decision whether they support mining or not.” KGHM Ajax is seeking environmental approvals for its proposed mine. The company announced this past spring it is redesigning its plan for the proposed 60,000-tonnes a day Debris from the tailingsopen-pit mine. pond breach litter the It is abandoning a shore of Quesnel Lake. dry stack for its tailings Angie Mindus/W.L. Tribune in favour of a traditional tailings pond and dam that will cover Goose Lake. A company official said it is in the midst of the design, but noted it will differ fundamentally from the dam at Mount Polley. “Tailings facilities — if properly designed, constructed and maintained — don’t fail,” Clyde Gillespie, Ajax’s manager of project development, told KTW, comparing it to the process of bridge building. Gillespie said the company purposefully chose the best design possible to store tailings, waste material from the milling process that includes pulverized rock, water and elements typically in a slurry. He said it differs from Mount Polley’s construction. “Our embankment is rock on top of rock,” Gillespie said. X See MAYBE A11
A Monday, Aug. 4, breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley Mine tailings pond has resulted in damage to lakes, creeks and rivers and has led to a water ban in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. Cariboo Regional District photo
Likely residents fearing the worst By Sage Birchwater
WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE editor@wltribune.com
A pall of uncertainty hangs over the town of Likely as a total breach in the Mount Polley mine tailings pond continues to pour a slurry of toxic water and mud into Quesnel Lake, once renowned for being the cleanest deep water lake in the world. In the early hours of Monday, Aug. 4, the four-kilometre-long dam containing the tailings pond of the copper and gold mine burst, sending millions of tons of contaminated water, mud and mining slurry into the salmon-bearing water system. Surpentine Creek, previously a stream two metres wide, is now a wasteland 50 metres across, after five-million cubic metres of effluent flooded into nearby Polley Lake and carved its own canyon
several kilometres in length to Quesnel Lake. Eyewitnesses to the devastation, Stan and Rosanne Siemens of Quesnel, were boating on the East Arm of Quesnel Lake. When they turned the corner on their way back to Likely — a town 66 kilometres northeast of Williams Lake — they could hardly believe their eyes. Two kilometres down the lake, a floating mass of twisted trees stretched half way across the waterway. “It’s rude up there,” Stan Siemens said. “Halfway across the lake, trees were sticking straight up. I’m a logger and it would take us a year to take that many trees down — and this happened in 20 minutes.” Rosanne Siemens said the land is destroyed. “Raft Creek is a river now,” she said.
“It’s all mud.” A toxic plume continues to build in the lake and move down the outflow into the Quesnel River at Likely. By Tuesday, the water advisory for Likely had been expanded for the whole Quesnel River system to the City of Quesnel on the Fraser River. Robin Hood, president of the Likely Chamber of Commerce, was grim as his wife, Darlene, handed out water-advisory notices to people vacationing on the shore of the river. “The whole economy of this town [Likely] is dependent on the mine and tourism,” Hood said. “Now we might have lost both overnight.” Sitting in the shade on the porch of Likely’s general store, 28-year-old Kalvin King was checking the Internet on his phone.
X See ENVIRONMENTAL A10
3 DAYS OF FREE OUTDOOR ROCK STAY FROM $99
CONCERTS FROM 6 TRIBUTE BANDS!
Central Reservations: 1.800.807.3257 SunPeaksResort.com/Retro-Concert