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Protesters hold a banner outside Imperial Metals’s head office. Photo: Jeffrey Richmond
A crowd gathered outside the Vancouver head office of Imperial Metals (TSX:III) on Monday afternoon to protest against the mining company in connection with the Mount Polley tailings pond disaster.
Led by the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society, protestors chanted, sang and made speeches denouncing the Vancouver-based miner.
“The water is essentially our lifeblood,” said Dawn Morrison, chair and founder of a working group on indigenous food sovereignty with the B.C. Food Systems Network.
“And the salmon are the backbone of our communities and our life and our land and food system. So it’s really critical that we protect the water,” she said.
The catastrophic failure August 4 of the tailings pond wall at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine near Likely released 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine sand, contaminating several lakes, rivers and creeks in the Cariboo region.
Morrison claimed Imperial Metals is not telling the truth about its ability to treat the contaminated water.
“We know that the energy and the spirit of that water is sacred and it will never be the same after they contaminate it, no matter how much they treat it,” she said.
David Clow, an environmental activist on a 1,400 kilometre wheelchair journey to raise awareness of the potential dangers of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, appeared to agree.
“The effects are permanent,” he said. “We’re going to be dealing with this forever, long after (the people responsible are) gone. Long after their companies are gone, we’re going to have to be dealing with their mess.”
Clow dismissed the idea that fining the company $1 million would send other miners an effective message.
“If the punitive effects don’t exceed their profits, then what incentive do they have to stop these actions?” he said.
“If you remove all the speculation and you boil it down to what’s left, we have two once pristine lakes that are now Imperial Metals tailings ponds,” he said. “That’s what’s left.”
13 Comments
Herb
Best coverage of its kind I have seen – from the most unlikely of sources.
Gayle Pulak
Even 1 million dollars will never fix the enviromental damage that is all ready done~
Cariboo2014
I am really tired of hearing about ‘pristine’ environments, rivers and lakes, particularly in an area that has been mined in one way or another since the 1860s. Pristine according to most dictionaries means “untouched by human hands” or something that is left in in its “natural state”. In the old days the miners used mercury freely to release gold and this was flushed into the creeks that drained into these so-called pristine environments. Today there are residences, seasonal and permanent, on their shores, which also means they continue to be “touched by humans”. The only thing that has changed is the methods, which today, thanks to a very heavily laden bureaucracy, mean water treatment has hugely improved and discharge meets potable government standards. Somehow the salmon survived the many years of toxic mercury discharge which may have lasted for almost 100 years. They will also adapt and survive this spill. Yes, the spill should never have happened, BUT perhaps if the province in its infinite wisdom had not shrunk the mines branch with inspectors who knew what they were looking at almost to non-existence this might not have. Sending out environment and forestry compliance & enforcement officers to do the job of trained mines personnel clearly has not worked. And why, when they had already issued several warnings about over height water levels, was an increased discharge permit not issued? I would speculate that the province is largely at fault here, but of course will try to pass the buck as much as they can. For every person who is critical and thinks mining should now be banned, I would ask: are you willing to give up your house, your electricity, your phone, your computer, your iPad or tablet, your cell phone, your stove & fridge, your car, your bicycle, your ride on public transport, even your toothpaste – because all of these come from products that are mined – and go back to wearing skins and hunting with sharpened sticks?
Irredeemable Gary
Good Lord!!!
A voice of reason in the midst of ‘bleeding heart emotions.’
“We know that the energy and the spirit of that water is sacred and it will never be the same after they contaminate it, no matter how much they treat it,” she [Dawn Morrison] said.”
Genius!
Guest
Much confusion in these comments about our ability to predict outcomes in complex systems such as salmon habitat. The bottom line is that no one knows how these systems will react. Another misconception is about natural systems ability to react to shocks. Natural systems are very robust to extreme shocks as long as they do not happen very frequently. The diversity of salmon species is due to the history of seismic activity in the NW. Natural systems respond and come back stronger like breaking a bone or fatiguing a muscle.
Natural systems do not respond well to constant low stress. Just as stress affects your digestive, nerve and endocrine system, levels of metals slowly dissolving from the sediments through natural burial and anaerobic acid production becoming available for absorption by aquatic life will slowly impact salmon populations. These levels can even be below the criteria and still cause harm. You may not see rafts of dead fish, but look for changes to egg survival, body size, ability to avoid predators and lower reproductive rates. Some effects could take generations.
The company had a choice, slow production and stay within the limits of design and permit, or push ahead. They choose profit. No opinion about mining as a business, but why should they be guaranteed a profit by changing the terms of their permit. No other private business’s have such a guarantee.
Irredeemable Gary
The irony is the water is ‘contaminated’ with NATIVE minerals…
jdrock
a few people on this earth can probably say…they have no benefits from mining activities !…..get to work on cleanup . Make governments and companies..accountable
rayban
You all are too emotional , get a grip . Get organised , get something done instead of useless bickering and ignorance . So much bad info in your replies I am nearly sickened .
Alan
Perhaps the energy and spirit of the water are at fault for undermining the dam. Anyone can find fault in anything and anyone they choose, but what a useless pastime.
What sense does it make to bankrupt the company and its investors, rather than working together to improve the situation? Stop the blame game and get real about pitching in and supporting solutions.
Doug
Oh what the hell, I guess I`ll put my 2 cents in too. These people sitting on the street corner seem to accept all the benefits of modern society but when something like this happens they step back and say ” oh no not me ” Well grow up! You are as responsible as any of us that accepts these benefits. We should be using our energy to fix “OUR” mistake and try to see it does`nt happen again.
Doug Walker
Douglas Walker
Oh what the hell ! I guess I`ll put my 2 cents in too. These people sitting on the street corner crying seem to accept all the benefits of modern society but when something like this happens they step back and say “oh no not me” Well grow up! You are as responsible as any of us that accept these benefits. Its time to work together to fix “OUR” mistake and try to ensure it does`nt happen again.
Dawn Morrison
http://urbanmining.org/
Allan Gregor
Why don’t we have tailing ponds below glaciers the process is the same as Imperial
Metals use at Mt. Polly.